Trauma Team
by absedarian
Summary: OUaT/WH13 AU Crossover: Meet the rock stars of medicine: the alpha team at Miami Trauma. Led by the youngest trauma chief in the country, Dr. Regina Mills, surgeons Helena Wells, Myka Bering, and new addition Emma Swan fight for people's lives every day while trying not to let their personal lives interfere with their job. SQ/Bering & Wells. More info inside.
1. Episode 1, Part 1 - First Impressions

**Trauma Team**

by ABSedarian

**Fandoms:** AU Crossover: OUaT/Warehouse 13

**Pairings:** Swan Queen, Bering & Wells (established), AU

**Rating:** M, to be safe (T for sure, for language reasons alone — can't help it, I'm a potty mouth and so are some of the characters).

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything, except for my mistakes. If you find any of those, you're welcome to let me know about them. I don't own _OUaT_ or _Warehouse 13_ (unfortunately), and I also don't own _Miami Medical_, which gave me the setting and the idea. All my knowledge of medicine comes from reading trauma procedures handbooks, skimming through my old copy of _Gray's Anatomy,_ and from watching medical shows on TV, so things will probably not always make sense.

**Summary:** Based on a manip I made for _Warehouse 13_ AU Week in December 2012 called _Trauma Team_ (see the story cover) — the four ladies make up a team of doctors at a Trauma Center in Miami. Pete is the team's charge nurse. Other characters from both shows (and others) might show up.

**Author's note:** This is a two-shot for now, but it could also be a first in a series of "episodes" (which is why the chapters are tentatively called Episodes). Consider this two shot the two-parter pilot, if you will, and if the mood strikes me, I might continue it. This story is also completely AU, which might also extend to the protagonists behaving in a somewhat OOC way sometimes. My story, my rules. :)

* * *

**Episode 1, Part 1 – First Impressions**

"Fuck."

Emma Swan checked her watch again as she closed her apartment door behind her. "I can't believe I'm gonna be late on my first day," she muttered. "That's gonna make a great impression, Swan."

Not that her first impulsive act in who knew how long hadn't been worth it, she thought with a smile. The sex had been _phe-no-me-nal_, especially for a slightly drunk one-night stand, and the woman ... had been too beautiful for words. _I should have gotten her number, damn it ... or at least her name._ Unfortunately, that had been the last thing on her mind as she was sneaking out of the beautiful stranger's apartment in the early hours of the morning to find her way home through the still very unfamiliar city, take a shower and get dressed, just to drive to work for her first shift at Miami Trauma.

For which she was now late. _Forget about HR and signing the paperwork, just make sure you get there in time for your shift._ She checked her watch again.

"Fuck."

—*—*—

"Hey, Pete," Myka Bering called out over the din of the trauma center.

"Dr. Bering, what can I do for you?" The tall nurse looked up from the stack of charts he had been studying. "How was your vacation?"

"Short," Myka replied, smiling widely. "Short, but sweet."

"Well, be glad that the chief let you go off at all," Pete said with a grin. "I haven't been on a vacation in two years."

"That's because she's still not over the chaos that ensued when you were off for that three-day admin training. Face it, you've made yourself indispensable. You should be grateful she doesn't just sell your apartment and chains you to a wall in here."

"Yeah, yeah. You ladies just need that little bit of testosterone I bring to the team. You need a man around here ... but _nooo_, our new transfer has to be a woman, too. Let's hope it's one that is open to what my half of the species has to offer ..." Pete chuckled. "So, what was it you wanted?"

"Have you seen my wife? Wait, we have a new transfer?"

"You didn't come in together? And yes."

Myka shook her head. "We split up in the parking lot. She had to go up to HR for some last-minute paperwork."

Pete shuddered. "She hasn't come through here yet, so she's probably still stuck in admin. But listen, I'm really glad she's finally back where she belongs."

"So am I, Pete," Myka said with a smile. "So, what do you know about the new one ... and why are we getting someone new anyway? Who transferred out? Can't leave the hospital for a week ..."

"Don't know much," Pete replied with a shrug. "It was all pretty sudden. All I know is that Dr. Hunter from Beta wanted to get out of Miami and found someone somewhere desperate enough to switch at a moment's notice. And then Holy Mary decided to take his spot on Beta to have more time with her boy toy, which is how _we_ ended up with the new one."

"And all of that without breathing ... I'm impressed. Is the new doc here yet? I'm curious." Myka looked around with a huge grin.

Pete shrugged. "No idea. Nobody's even seen her yet, not even the chief. She could be standing behind you and we wouldn't know her. The transfer went through without HR letting the chief approve of the new doc and believe me, she's not too happy about it."

"Ouch! On the other hand, she's probably not too unhappy to see Mary go," Myka mused.

"You got that right, girl."

—*—*—

_Two naked bodies moved together on a rumpled bed. The woman beneath her pushing up against her, straining for maximum contact between their bodies, her face made even more beautiful by the arousal clearly visible on it. Her own hand touched muscular shoulders, slid over breasts, teased a hip and came to rest on the inside of a thigh. They kissed, passionately, hungrily, moving together with burning intensity. Hands were roaming her body freely, fleetingly, never stopping long enough in one place to satisfy her needs, but increasing her arousal immensely. A hand slipped between her thighs, fingers swirling in her wetness without putting pressure where she really wanted it. Then finally …_

"I knew I'd find you up here."

The words, spoken from behind her, ripped Regina Mills from her daydream. She whirled around, taking a deep breath to shake off the lingering arousal, and engulfed the speaker in a warm embrace. "Helena!"

"Hello, boss," Helena Wells replied with a smile. "God, it's going to be fun saying that." She grinned.

"Please don't," Regina chided her with a slight slap to her arm. "I'm so glad I finally have you back on my team. I did miss bossing you around."

Helena nodded. "Your new trauma fellow, reporting for work, ma'am," she said with a mock salute.

"I _really_ missed you," Regina said quietly. "And it's going to be good not to see Myka so damn sad all the time. Did you two have a nice week?"

"Like I told you last night, you're not getting any details," Helena said, wagging her finger. "But thank you again for making it possible. The cabin was perfect for us."

Regina just smiled.

"Speaking of last night," Helena continued, "how did things go with the lady from the bar?" She raised an eyebrow. "You looked like you were having a good time over your appletinis or whatever weird concoction you were having."

Regina turned to look out over the water again. "I was just thinking about her," she said after a moment.

"Oh?" Something in Regina's voice pulled Helena closer to her. "What happened?" she asked seriously.

Regina gave her friend a lopsided smile. "I'm not even sure, believe it or not," she said quietly. "I took her back to my place ..."

Helena studied Regina's face. Her friend _never_ took people home with her. There was something going on behind those eyes that she hadn't seen in a very long time, but right now, five minutes before their shift started, was probably not the right time to delve into that. She decided to be flippant instead. "So ... good, bad, don't want to talk about it ever again?"

Regina's eyes lit up as they met Helena's. "Good doesn't even begin to describe it," she admitted to Helena's surprise. "You remember how alcohol-fueled one-night stands usually go, right? A little awkward, a lot of fumbling, and if you're _really_ lucky it all _somehow_ works out okay?"

"But not last night?" Helena guessed.

Regina shook her head. "Last night ... was great. Amazing, actually. It was as if we had this ..." Regina wrapped her arms around herself. "She knew just how to touch me ... and from her reaction I thought I had returned the favor well enough. Do you have any idea how _rare_ that is?"

Helena nodded. "I can feel a but coming ..."

"She was gone when I woke up this morning." Regina's voice held a hint of sadness. "I went to sleep hoping I'd get to at least enjoy a nice breakfast ... but apparently, she didn't share that feeling." She didn't have to add _or my feelings about the night_.

Helena slung an arm across her friend's shoulders. "Maybe she's just not a morning person or she was just feeling a little awkward after all that _amazing_ sex," she suggested. "If you really felt a connection, call her and ask her out."

Regina looked at H.G. "Maybe I would ... but she didn't leave her number when she sneaked out before I woke up, and we never even exchanged names," she replied, a little ashamed to admit that. She started pulling them towards the roof access door. "Let's get this day started, shall we? With our luck, we'll get some major trauma coming in just because it's your first day back … and on top of it all we have a new transfer."

Helena watched her old friend's profile as they were walking across the roof. If she didn't know better, she'd think that Regina had lost her heart to this stranger the night before, but those things didn't really happen, did they? People did not fall in love with strangers in the span of a few hours. Then she thought about Myka and couldn't deny that _yes_, those things could indeed happen, if you let them.

Just not to Regina Mills, their self-reliant, independent, workaholic trauma chief. The woman who had sworn off love years ago.

Helena shook her head as she entered the elevator after her friend. She suddenly wished she had paid closer attention to the woman from the bar.

—*—*—

Myka was waiting for them when they made it to the break room, which was relatively large and also housed their lockers, a kitchenette, a table with a computer and a small bookshelf with research material.

Regina watched with a smile as Helena and Myka immediately drifted towards each other, both with small grins on their faces. She was happy for them, and so engrossed in watching them that she almost missed what they were talking about.

"Do you remember the woman from the bar last night, darling?" Helena was just asking Myka.

"Huh, what woman?" Pete asked as he came into the room, a stack of charts in his arms. "Don't tell me I missed something good last night?"

"Ignore them, Pete," Regina said. "Please." She shot Helena a warning look, and Pete busied himself with the charts.

Myka pulled H.G. into the far corner of the room, so Pete couldn't hear them quite so easily. Judging by Regina's stormy face, she would be less than pleased if he did. Regina followed Myka and H.G. to remind them that they were at work.

"What woman?" Myka asked.

"The one that stole Regina's full attention from us."

"What about her?" Myka sounded slightly confused. "She looked nice enough."

"And according to Regina, she was. _More_ than nice," Helena continued as if Regina wasn't standing right there next to her. "They went home together, and I think our friend may have lost her heart last night," Helena teased with a wink. Myka looked from H.G. to Regina and back in shock. Regina _never_ did things like that.

"Oh, that's ridiculous, Helena! I did not-"

Regina's hissed outburst was interrupted by a whirlwind bursting into the room and coming to a skidding halt just inside the door, right next to Pete. "So sorry I'm late," the blonde newcomer apologized without looking up, panting a little and trying to juggle a small satchel, a stack of dark blue scrubs, and her ID card. "I had a _really_ rough morning and I-" She stopped suddenly and looked up, realizing that she'd made quite an entrance. She froze as her eyes met Regina's across the room.

"Oh."

"Uh-oh," H.G. whispered and Myka just nodded.

_Oh no,_ Regina thought, trying desperately to keep a neutral mask on her face. _This isn't happening. _She stared at the woman, her brain insisting on mixing the actual sight before her with memories of last night's encounter. This _couldn't_ be happening. She had not spent the morning thinking about ... She had to snap out of this, and fast. Her mind replayed the blonde's first words. _Wait what? A rough morning? I'm going to show you a rough morning …_

Dr. Emma Swan only had one thought running through her head. "It's you ... you're here ..." she stammered, unable to tear her eyes from Regina's shocked face. _Holy shit, I can't believe I have a second chance at this. _Her heart skipped a beat and her face erupted into a hesitant, yet brilliant smile.

Helena and Myka let out the breath they were holding and relaxed.

Regina didn't.

Instead she tensed and straightened her shoulders. "_You're_ the new transfer, I assume?" She managed to make it sound like Emma was a carcass dragged in from Alligator Alley.

Emma's smile slid from her face. _Seems like her memories of last night aren't nearly as good as mine,_ she thought with an internal sigh. _Well, that just sucks._ She put on a professional half-smile and promised herself she would talk to the other woman later, to explain herself. _Time to be an adult now._ "Yes, I am," she said genially, addressing everyone. "Emma Swan, fourth year resident. Just transferred from Seattle."

"Welcome," Regina replied curtly, her professional mask firmly in place now. "I'm Dr. Mills, chief of the Alpha Team trauma unit and these are Helena Wells and Myka Bering. Dr. Wells is our trauma fellow and Dr. Bering is a fifth year resident."

Emma's brain only grasped the essential information: _She's my boss. Fuck, that can't be good._

Helena and Myka both gave her reassuring smiles. "It's good to have you on board," Myka said.

"Welcome to Alpha trauma," Helena added.

"We'll see," Regina cut in coolly and then pointed to the only man in the room. "And this is our charge nurse, Pete Lattimer. Without him we'd all be lost, so please don't treat him like he's just another nurse."

Emma resisted the urge to roll her eyes, barely, and turned to Pete. "I'm looking forward to working with you." She freed her hand from under her load and smiled as he shook her hand awkwardly while balancing his charts.

"It will be my pleasure. Whatever you need, come find me." His first instinct was to flirt, although he could sense that there was something going on here that he wasn't privy to. He leaned closer to Myka. "You will tell me later what the weird tension was all about, right? My spidey sense is tingling like crazy," he whispered, which earned him a light smack to his arm.

_No way in hell_, Myka thought. _I like my life, thank you very much._

"Anyway," Pete continued loudly. "Here are some charts for you to look at in case it gets boring in here today. We had a good month, let's keep it that way." He looked at the four women and didn't need his vibes to tell him that with the atmosphere as charged as it was, _boring_ would be the last thing on anybody's mind. As were charts, probably.

"No tempting fate, Pete," Regina said with a groan. All she wanted was to get back on the roof to get over the fact that the woman she had spent one of the best nights of her life with was now working under her and was consequently firmly out of her reach. She put on her professional mask and decided to deal with the situation as best she could. Like a boss.

"Okay, people," she said, "you heard the man. Grab a chart and -"

She was interrupted by their pagers going off.

"Incoming. Two auto vs. ped in ten." Pete's voice was clear and precise.

Regina straightened. This was what she lived for and this was what she was good at. She looked at her team. As chief, she should team up with Dr. Swan today to see what she was capable of, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "Helena," she called out, "you and Dr. Swan: Trauma 2, Myka, you're with me in Trauma 1."

H.G. and Myka both gave her a surprised look, but stayed quiet, for which Regina was grateful. She knew she'd have to answer their questions about this blatantly unprofessional decision later, whether she wanted to or not, but for now she needed to avoid Emma Swan's presence, which was making her heart thud and her fingers tingle.

_Still ... _"Any questions?" she addressed the new team member.

Emma met her eyes straight on, trying to inject as much warmth into the gaze as she could to ward off the chill coming from her new boss. "No questions," she replied confidently. "I'll just get ready and then I'm sure Dr. Wells will fill me in as we go along today."

"Call me Helena or H.G." She pointed Emma to a free locker while Regina pretended to look at a chart Pete had handed her.

Emma changed quickly, glad to be in her hospital uniform. The blue cloth felt like a piece of armor to her, a sign that she now belonged to this little army of helpers. She never even noticed that Regina's eyes watched her every move.

Helena did, however, and she smiled at Emma once they were out the door and walking towards incoming. "You'll be okay," she added quietly. _Maybe._

Emma nodded absently. She knew she should focus on her first trauma case here at one of the best trauma centers in the country, but the only thought running through her head was, _Fucking hell, did she have to be my boss? _

—*—*—

The paramedics were just rushing in with the patient when Helena and Emma made it to incoming.

"Patient is intermittently responsive, BP 90 over 60 and falling. Pulse 57. Compound fracture of the right femur, deep lac left arm, possible skull fracture, possible pelvic injury," the EMT rattled off to Helena. "Oh, and she said she's pregnant and she's been asking about her husband."

Emma looked up at him. "Was he with her?"

The EMT nodded. "Yeah, he's on the other bus."

"Okay, thanks." The EMT nodded, and Emma focused on their patient. "Hi, my name is Dr. Swan, this is Dr. Wells, and we're going to take good care of you, okay?"

The patient nodded once, then slipped into unconsciousness again. Emma turned to Helena who was checking the woman's stats. "Ultrasound first." They pushed the gurney into the trauma suite.

Helena handed her the ultrasound wand. "Start with the abdomen."

"I can't see enough," Emma said after only a few minutes. "There's a lot of damage."

"Tell CT we'll be there in two minutes," Helena told a nurse. "We need to know what's going on." She turned to Pete. "We're going to need an OR as soon as she's stabilized. Page ortho and vascular and have an OB and neuro on stand-by."

Pete nodded and ran off.

"CT is too dangerous if she's pregnant," Emma said urgently.

H.G. shook her head. "Not with our new machine. Just got it a couple of months ago," she explained. "We can adjust the radiation levels to the bare minimum. It's safer than cutting her open blind and digging around."

They pushed the gurney into the CT room, just as the patient came to with a small groan and started moving around. "Calm down," Emma said quietly. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Ka-Kate," the woman got out with difficulty. She weakly grabbed Emma's hand. "Pl- please ... my husband ..."

"I think your husband was brought here as well," Helena said soothingly. "As soon as we know something, we'll let you know."

"Any medical conditions we need to know about?" Emma asked as they got ready to transfer the patient to the CT table.

"No ... pregnant," Kate groaned.

"How far along, Kate?"

"About ... about twelve we-weeks."

Emma gripped Kate's hand tighter. "It's going to be okay, Kate, you listen to me," she calmed the other woman. "I'm going to leave you for a second now, but I'll be just over there behind the window with Dr. Wells."

"Don't leave me," Kate implored. "I'm ... scared."

Emma and Helena shared a look, then Helena nodded. "Get a gown for Dr. Swan," she told a nurse as she left.

"Thank you," Kate whispered.

"No problem."

Regina shook her head with a grimace. "Time of death: 10:02am." She ripped off her bloody gloves and threw them in the bin.

"There is only so much we can do, Regina," Myka said quietly, though no less sad at the loss of a patient. "Even you can't bring back the dead."

"I know," Regina sighed. "Let's check on our other patient." _And our newest addition to the team._

"Sooo," Myka leaned in closer as they walked down the hallway, "bit of a shock this morning, huh?"

Regina shot her a warning glance. "Not now, Myka."

"You looked like you couldn't decide between running away and ripping her clothes off." Myka knew she was playing with fire, but she couldn't help herself. "_She_ looked like she just wanted to kiss you."

"Dr. Bering." It came out as a growl, a strong reminder that they were at work.

"What?" Myka asked innocently. "Oh, come on, just admit it. If what Helena said was true you would date her in a heartbeat if she worked anywhere but here." She paused. "And I think that shouldn't stop you. I mean, nobody has a problem with me and Helena."

"Admin look the other way, Dr. Bering," Regina ground out, "because I _told_ them to mind their own business, which they accepted since you're married and neither of you are in a position of real authority over the other." She didn't mention that she'd threatened to quit if someone had a problem with her two friends. She stopped and turned to face Myka. "The situation is quite different for me ... even if I _wanted_ to date her. Which I certainly don't." She paused. "Or if _she_ wanted to date me."

"Which she totally does!" Myka blurted. "I can tell!"

"Right," Regina snorted. "That's why she disappeared without leaving her name or number this morning or why she showed up here claiming she had a _really rough morning_."

"But-"

"Enough, Myka." With that, Regina turned and walked into Trauma 2.

—*—*—

The CT confirmed the preliminary diagnoses and also showed a comminuted rib fracture, which had caused a liver laceration.

"First things first," Helena said when they were back in their assigned trauma suite. "Swan, you need to go in and repair the liver while I close the abdominal lacs and clean out the debris from around the compound fracture and try and stop the bleeding. Okay?"

Emma simply nodded and started to prep the side of the abdomen. "General surgery was my specialty before I decided to move to trauma, you know," she said conversationally as she made a precise cut under the watchful gaze of Helena.

"Good, I don't have to be worried then," Helena replied dryly.

"So, how long have you been here?"

"That's a long story," Helena said evasively.

"Oh?"

"I was here for my residency," Helena explained as she bent over the broken leg and began to clear the site of the break and trying to stop the bleeding. "Then I went back to England for a while ... I had a duty to fulfill ... spent a few months in Afghanistan. It's my first day back actually." She looked up and winked, but her voice told Emma not to ask further for now.

"I was surprised the chief decided not to look over my shoulder today," Emma mentioned as casually as she could. "I expected to be under a microscope for the first month or so ..."

Helena was glad her mask covered her grin. "Well, circumstances being what they are ..."

"Yeah, you were there last night, right ... sorry, I didn't see much except for ..." Emma blushed and cleared her throat. "I have no idea what I did to have this happening to me," she mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Helena wondered if she had read Emma wrong in the locker room. "Earlier you looked like you wanted to ..." She looked at the nurses around them and trailed off, expressing the rest of her sentence with her eyebrows. Or at least she hoped she was.

Emma met her eyes. "Oh, yeah," she replied fervently, "but it looks like I'm alone in that."

Helena knew better, she just wasn't sure if she should say something about it. Regina was stubborn and wholly out of practice in matters of the heart. "Things are a little more complicated than that," she finally said, "but I think you should talk to her, not me. "

The nurses were beginning to look at each other questioningly at the strange conversation going on over the woman on the trauma table. Emma ignored their stares. "You don't know me yet," she said after a moment, "but this was completely out of character for me. I don't do this kind of thing _ever_ because usually it just isn't worth it."

Helena remembered Regina's words from earlier. "And was it worth it this time?"

"So much," Emma said. "I just wish it had been under different circumstances." Suddenly the monitor went off. "Pressure's bottoming out," she said. "Oh, shit, we just got another bleeder in here somewhere. I need more suction!"

Helena was by her side in an instant. "Looks like a piece of the rib moved through there like a projectile."

Emma worked diligently for a few moments, feeling for the source of the bleeding and the piece of rib that was causing the damage. She found a hole in one of the blood vessels and the piece of bone. "Clamp, now!" she barked. As soon as she got the clamp in place the blood flow stopped.

"Pressure going up," Helena said. "Stable. Nice work, Swan."

"Thanks, but there's lots more to do here." She motioned towards the monitor. "ICP is rising, neuro needs to get on that sooner rather than later."

"Agreed," said a smooth voice as Regina and Myka approached the table, already gloving up. "So let's get her stable and to the OR."

"Almost done fixing the liver lac," Emma said, "but I gotta fix this tear first."

Helena filled Regina in on what was going on with the patient.

"Okay," Regina said, "we're going to have to ignore the pelvic fracture for now. She's not going to have a great pregnancy, I'm afraid."

"_If_ we can save her and the baby," Emma said.

"Yes, if," Regina conceded, "but I definitely intend to." She turned to one of the nurses. "We need the OR in ten minutes."

"What about your patient?" Helena asked.

Regina just shook her head.

"Damn," Helena cursed quietly. "That was her husband."

Regina closed her eyes for a moment. "Damn indeed," she echoed. "What a crappy day this is turning out to be. And it's not even noon."

Emma gave her a startled look, but Regina was focused on the monitor. Five minutes later Emma was done.

"Okay, pack her and move her to the OR," Regina ordered.

—*—*—

The roof was empty, just as it always was. It had always been their refuge, especially Regina's, and nobody else bothered to come up here any more. Not after the time some first years had tried to throw a party up here and the Wrath of Mills had come down on them. Hard.

Regina came up here to release the stress from their job under the vast sky. She enjoyed the view over the water and the way being outside soothed her soul when things went badly. And given their specialty, things often didn't go as well as she wanted them to, no matter how hard and fast they worked.

She sat down against the wall around the corner from the access door, sheltered from the burning afternoon sun. They had lost the husband and last she heard a whole team of surgeons was still working on saving the wife and her baby. For one dark second Regina wondered if the woman wouldn't be better off if she followed her husband, but then she shook it off. The baby would help make survival less painful, she knew, but the woman's life would never be the same.

She pulled out her phone and flicked to the photo app. The picture of a small boy greeted her, his brown hair shaggy and his eyes as bright as his smile.

"How is Henry doing?"

Regina jumped at Helena's question.

"Sorry, I didn't want to startle you." Helena slid down next to her friend and reached for the phone. "Any new photos of my favorite godson?"

Regina snorted. "As far as I know he's your only godson, H.G." She handed over the phone. "There are a few from his grandfather's birthday last week."

"How is your dad?"

"Oh, he's fine. Getting older, but I think Henry's keeping him young." She grinned at a photo that showed the two Henrys wrestling in her father's backyard.

"And mommy dearest?"

Regina's face hardened. "Still out there somewhere." Helena put an arm around Regina's shoulders and pulled her close. "Thank you."

Helena pressed a kiss to Regina's temple. "Always." Then she cleared her throat.

"Uh-oh," Regina mumbled.

"_Uh-oh_ what?"

"You want to talk about Dr. Swan." Regina sighed.

"She's good at her job, you know," Helena replied. "And she was great with the patient ... that's a nice combination."

"Good to know." Regina sat up and leaned her head against the wall behind her. "Seriously, you know I trust your judgment," she continued when she heard her friend's snort. "If you say she's good, I'll believe it. I promise not to make those HR people's lives a living hell for the next year for hiring her without letting me meet with her at least. Just for six months or so."

"But that's not really the issue you're having with her presence on the team."

"Well, meeting her in an interview before she was hired would have solved this little problem we're having ..."

"Would it really?"

"What do you mean?"

"Regina, the electricity between you two could power the trauma center for a year," Helena remarked dryly. "I don't think that would have changed much."

Regina rolled her eyes. "That's only because we slept together, and if I had known who she was that would never have happened."

Helena gave her a look. "You forget I was at the bar last night and you two were giving off sparks long before you decided to be spontaneous for once and act on that feeling." She chuckled. "And judging by the bags under your eyes and the looks you gave each other this morning, there wasn't much sleep involved at all." Helena put a hand on Regina's. "Look, I think you should give her a chance. At least talk to her, get to know her. Maybe there's something there."

"Did she say something to you?" Regina sounded vaguely suspicious.

Helena shook her head. "Not much. We _did_ try not to feed the nurses more gossip than strictly necessary for their continued survival."

"Did you say something to her about me?"

"Regina, this isn't high school," Helena groaned. "I did not tell her that you _like_ her, and she didn't ask me to tell you she _likes_ you. Seriously, talk to _her_ ... you're both adults, you should be able to handle a conversation."

Regina actually looked a little doubtful at that.

"Oh, please," Helena said with a laugh. "Really?" She laughed again. "So make sure there aren't any horizontal surfaces in the vicinity when you talk." She stopped laughing when Regina hit her shoulder, hard. "Ouch," she cried.

"That's _not_ what I meant," Regina muttered.

"Damn, Regina, that hurt." Helena rubbed her shoulder with an exaggerated grimace.

Regina was instantly concerned and apologetic. "Oh God, I forgot about your shoulder. I'm so sorry. Do you need me to take a look at it?"

"Don't worry, it's okay. Really." She smirked. "Gives me a nice excuse to ask Myka for a massage tonight." She grinned devilishly.

Her boss laughed. "She's going to be happy to oblige." She paused and looked out over the water. "I can't date her, Helena."

"Myka? Of course you can't, I got there first."

"Dr. Swan."

"She has a first name, you know, and given that you've seen each other naked, maybe you should get used to, you know, actually using it," Helena reminded her gently. "Why can't you date her? If she's the one, what's to stand in your way?"

"The one?" Regina echoed. "What on earth are you talking about? She was a one-night stand that I picked up in a bar when I was too drunk to know any better."

"If you say so ... although that's not what it looked like last night. Or sounded like this morning." Helena was trying hard not to get annoyed at Regina's obstinacy. "Regina, I haven't seen you look at someone like that since ... in a long time. Far too long, my friend. What's wrong with trying to find happiness?"

Regina knew Helena was right, she _had_ felt an insane attraction towards the blonde ... _before_ she knew who she was, and after as well. But the way Helena was talking now made it sound like she believed Regina was feeling something as ridiculous as love at first sight. Everyone knew _that_ didn't exist. _Still ..._

"I wasn't really all that drunk," she admitted. That was as close as Helena was going to get to an apology and to Regina admitting that there was indeed _something_ between her and Emma. H.G. softened immediately, but before she could say anything, Regina continued. "I still can't date her."

Helena sighed and raised her hands in surrender. "Okay, if you think that's what's going to make you happy," she said, sounding disappointed. "At least be a little nicer to her. She doesn't deserve the cold shoulder ... not for simply being in the right place at the right time and having the audacity to make you feel something. Give her a chance." With that, she got up. "I'm going to go find Myka and try to find out how our patient is doing."

Regina nodded. As soon as Helena was gone, she let out a long breath. "It's not going to make me happy," she muttered miserably.


	2. Episode 1, Part 2 - Second Chances?

**Disclaimers: Same disclaimers apply**

* * *

**Episode 1, Part 2:** **Second Chances?**

"How's our patient?"

Myka turned around at the sound of her wife's voice. "Still in surgery. Emma's getting the full experience on her first day here."

"She scrubbed in?" Helena poured herself some coffee and held a second cup up in silent question.

Myka shook her head. "If I drink any more of that tar-based sludge, I'll be able to run to Biscayne Bay and back on caffeine fumes." She dropped almost gracefully onto the couch in the corner of the locker room. "Emma said she'd finish the liver and abdominal repairs, seeing as she's trained as a general surgeon." She smiled at her wife. "_I_ think she's trying to avoid Regina."

"Who is hiding out on the roof to avoid _her_," Helena added as she sank down next to Myka. She winced a little as her shoulder came into contact with Myka's, who noticed immediately. "What are we going to do about those two?"

"Did something aggravate your shoulder, honey?" She pulled at the collar of Helena's scrub top to check, but the wound looked like it always did: still slightly pink, but healed. She ran a finger over the small, slightly rough scar. "I wish they'd done a better job stitching you up," she sighed as she pressed a feather-light kiss to the scar.

"Well, I'm not letting you cut it open again to make it look a little nicer," Helena stated with a snort. "I'll just have to stay out of the way of bullets from now on ... or at least learn how to duck." She reached forward to put her coffee on the low table, then cupped Myka's face and forced her gently to look into her eyes. "It's okay, darling," she said, "Regina just forgot this was my bum shoulder when she slapped it."

"She hit you?" Myka was outraged. "She knows you're only just healed, she should know better, dammit."

Helena ran her hands through Myka's locks in a soothing motion. "Shh, I deserved it, darling. I made fun of her reaction to Emma," she explained. "I know that we're just about the only people who are allowed to tease her, but I went over the threshold a little bit and she lashed out." She kissed her wife's forehead. "If it makes you feel better, I think she felt utterly horrible about it."

"She should," Myka mumbled. "God knows I love her, but if she hurts you, I might have to hurt her back."

"You won't," Helena said simply and stopped Myka's impending protest with her mouth. The kiss was gentle and deepened only for a blissful moment or two before they remembered they were at work.

Myka moaned when they parted. "You're so good at that," she said, going back for one more taste. "Can we go back to the cabin? Please? Just for another month or so?"

Helena laughed gently. "If you really want me to, I'll ask the boss lady."

"I told you not to call me that," Regina said from the doorway, lips curled into a grin that showed Helena that things were good between them. "Ask me what?" She walked over to their little coffee bar. "God, I hate this sludge. I wish Ruby's would deliver ..."

At the thought of the fantastic coffee at their regular breakfast spot, all three women moaned happily. Regina dumped her coffee, unable to drink it when she was dreaming of Ruby's _café cubano_.

"Anyway, ask me what?" she repeated.

Helena grinned. "Myka wants to go back down to the cabin and never leave, I think."

"I didn't say never," Myka muttered into Helena's shoulder.

"You have no idea how well I understand you right now, Myka," Regina said with a laugh. "Unfortunately, our patients won't save their own lives, so we'll have to do it for them." She paused. "Maybe we should all go down there on the weekend? The team's off rotation Friday to Sunday." She saw the look between Helena and Myka. "Oh, for God's sake, I'll sleep on the boat, you two can have the cabin. We could have some time to catch up and relax."

"What about Henry?" Myka asked. "Don't you want to bring him, too? You usually spend any free minute you have with him."

A look of sadness crossed Regina's face. "He's off to a photography camp this weekend," she said with a sigh. "He's been talking about nothing else for months, so I'm ... free." _Alone. Lonely._

"Well, that's perfect then, isn't it?" Helena said. Her mind was already trying to work out how to get Emma down to the cabin without getting her, herself, or Myka killed in the process. One look at her wife told her that she was thinking the same thing.

"One condition," Regina added with a hint of steel in her voice. "There will be no mention of Dr. Swan."

"Absolutely, Regina." Helena and Myka did their best to look innocent. They weren't planning on _mentioning_ Emma, after all. Just have her join them. "Of course not."

Regina rolled her eyes and wondered if her friends really would be that ... meddlesome.

—*—*—

Emma threw her mask and gloves into the receptacle and left the OR, tired but happy, scrub cap held loosely in one hand. Their patient was stable for now, but Emma was not looking forward to updating her on her status and that of her husband. She knew that Myka and Regina had done their best to do the impossible, but from what Myka had said, there hadn't been anything for them to do really. _Dead is dead._

"Good work, Dr. Swan," Dr. – _what was his name again? Oh, yeah –_ Delgado said as he was walking past her.

"Thanks," she muttered absent-mindedly, her thoughts already back on Regina. She just couldn't let it go, no matter how difficult the situation had become simply because she was now working under the woman. She shook her head as her mind flashed to the night before, saw herself writhing under Regina, pulling her closer, demanding_ more ... harder ..._

_Snap out of it, Swan! _Emma admonished herself. _This is not getting you anywhere. If you want to have a chance with her, you'll need to play it cool ... be professional._ "Easier said than done," she muttered to nobody in particular.

She was glad when her pager went off and she had something else to focus on, even if it was, apparently, the paperwork she didn't manage to sign that morning. She headed for the elevator, which opened to reveal Myka.

"Surgery over?" Myka asked as Emma entered the elevator.

"Yeah," Emma replied, leaning against the wall. "She's going to be okay ... eventually."

"As okay as she can be after losing her husband," Myka said quietly. "Let's hope the kid will help her get over that loss." She thought about Regina and Henry. "Sometimes, a child really helps."

Emma gave her a look. "That sounds ominously like the voice of experience ..."

Myka shook her head, aware that she was close to revealing too much too soon. "Not me, no." She decided to keep it vague, "A very close friend lost the man she loved and then she found out she was pregnant. It saved her in the end."

"Sounds tragic," Emma commented. "I hope our patient is as strong as your friend seems to be."

"So do I." They were both silent for a moment. "So, where are you headed?"

"HR," Emma said with a sigh. "Forgot to sign the paperwork this morning."

Myka laughed. "Well, you looked like you _were_ in a hurry ..."

"Oh God, don't remind me." Emma lightly kicked the elevator wall with her heel. "If I hadn't had to be here to sign these fucking papers, I wouldn't have had to sneak out this morning, and things would maybe be a little easier now."

"You really walked out without waking her or at least leaving a note?" Myka tsked. "No wonder she was ..." She stopped as the elevator arrived at Emma's floor.

Emma held the door open, but didn't exit. "She was what, Myka?"

"Talk to _her_," Myka answered gently. "Not me, not Helena."

"Funny, Helena said the same thing." Emma took a breath. "I don't know what to say to her. I really want to get to know her, Myka. I thought last night was ... it was a really good beginning." She shook her head. "But to her I was just a one-night stand and now she doesn't want anything to do with me ..."

Myka silently counted to ten, then made up her mind. "Tell her that last night meant more to you than a one-night stand, and don't let her hide behind the boss excuse." She put a hand on Emma's shoulder. "Just promise me one thing: don't lead her on. Don't go after her just because the hunt is fun or you need to get off."

Emma cocked her head to the side, a little stunned. "Whoa, ooh-kay," she finally drawled. "If I simply wanted to get off, I could do it myself with far less complications, jeez." She met Myka's eyes. "Like I already told Helena, I don't normally go around looking for hook-ups … but Regina was so funny and interesting and just downright ... breathtaking …" She trailed off with a dreamy look on her face.

"Good," was all Myka said as she pushed Emma out of the elevator. "Nice scrub cap, by the way!"

Emma smiled at the white swans on her red scrub cap, not all that put off by Myka's friendly warning. So Regina had some very protective friends, which she thought was a good sign that the woman was worth any kind of trouble. You didn't make friends like that if you weren't worth knowing, so her plan for now was to try and get to know Regina.

And hopefully manage to keep her libido in check while doing it.

—*—*—

Thirty minutes before the end of their shift the sound of her pager jerked Myka from her catnap. "Gah."

She heard a low chuckle and looked up to see Regina who gave her a rueful little smile over the top of the chart she was studying. "Excuse me while I go kill Pete for jinxing us this morning," the chief muttered.

Myka laughed. "Well, at least Emma's first day wasn't boring. Wouldn't want her to run back to Seattle, would we?"

Regina flinched a little and got up. "Yeah, wouldn't want that." Her tone was expressionless and Myka couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

"Regina," Myka began, but the other woman left the room before she could say anything else. "Great. Next time think before you speak, Myka." She got up and stretched a little, getting the blood going.

Emma burst through the door. "Oh hey, Myka."

"Do you ever just walk into a room? You know, quietly, at a normal pace?" Myka asked with a grin.

Emma blushed. "Sorry, I think my body is still trying to catch up the five minutes I was late this morning. I promise I'm not always like this." She paused. "Have you seen Regina?"

"You just missed her." Myka clipped her pager to her scrub pants. "She probably went to check the state of the trauma bays or something. She's a little anal like that." She decided not to mention that Regina had run from any mention of Emma.

"Isn't that Pete's job?" Emma was still trying to figure who was doing what at the trauma center here. The ER in Seattle had handled things a lot differently, mostly because there wasn't a dedicated, separate trauma center.

Myka nodded. "Yeah, but you'll realize soon that Regina likes to make sure that things are just the way she likes them."

"Control freak?"

"Sometimes, yeah," Myka admitted. "Everything for the sake of this team and our patients."

Emma sighed. "This is not going to be easy, is it?" She didn't specify, and she didn't really have to.

Myka shook her head. "Anyway, is there anything I can do or did you need Regina specifically?"

Emma blushed again. "I just wanted to talk to her, but she's been avoiding me all day."

"You did get the page, right?" Myka asked. "We have incoming in ten, so now wasn't a good time anyway."

"I know." Emma wondered if her voice sounded as whiny to Myka as it did to her own ears. "To be honest, I just wanted to see her. Right now I'm willing to just look at her, even if she doesn't want to talk."

Their pagers went off again. "Tell you what ..." Myka said hesitantly. "Why don't you meet us for breakfast tomorrow morning? We'll introduce you to the wonder that is Ruby's diner and her wonderful coffee. _If_ our shift is over by then, that is."

"Us?"

"It's a tradition of sorts," Myka explained. "Regina, Helena, and I often have breakfast at Ruby's to start the shift off right. At least on the days after we get to go home for the night ... if the shifts don't all run together ..."

"Are you going to tell Regina you invited me?"

Myka just laughed. "You want her to be there, don't you?"

Emma grinned. "Text me the address."

—*—*—

"Dammit!" Emma growled. "What the hell kinda bullets did they use on this guy?"

"Looks like hollow points," came Helena's terse reply. "Just keep going."

"We need more blood or this guy's going to be dead soon, no matter what we do."

"On it." Helena gave Pete a small sign and he left the room with a nod. "The only saving grace for this guy might be that he's so large and that the shooter apparently had no idea what he was doing."

"Is the shooter the guy in the other room?"

"Yep," Helena replied. "Wonder if our guy here had better aim."

"Let's hope not."

The monitors went off again. "What now?" Emma asked. There was no visible sign of distress on the patient. "Heart rate's dropping," she mumbled. "We need more blood."

"That's not it." Helena shook her head. She surveyed the patient. "Bollocks! What's going on? None of the bullets went anywhere near his heart. What else happened to this guy?"

Emma was just about to point out a small bruise forming on the patient's chest when the door opened and Regina rushed in, pulling on a fresh pair of gloves, followed by Pete. "What do we have?"

Emma explained the situation quickly while Regina studied the monitor and the patient simultaneously. She had an idea but she wanted to see if Emma came to the same conclusion. "Ideas?"

Helena looked at her boss and recognized the look in her eyes. _She's testing us ... No, Emma. She's testing Emma. Please be as good as I think you are, Swan._

Emma covered the wound she had been working on and put her hand on the man's chest, pressing down gently next to the growing bruise. "Syringe, 16-gauge." She met Regina's eyes straight on. "Cardiac tamponade," she said with certainty. "I'm going to relieve the pressure."

Regina nodded, glad that her mask covered her smile. _Well, well, she _is_ good._ She watched as Emma carefully felt for a spot and rammed the needle into the man's chest. Only when it looked like Emma was hesitating after this initial action did she reach out and gently touched Emma's hand, moving the syringe to a slightly different angle. Emma gave her a quick look, then started to draw the blood from the chest cavity. Immediately the patient's heart rate picked up.

"Good job, Dr. Swan," Regina said sincerely. Helena looked on with a smile as Emma swallowed and nodded. Regina checked the patient's status once more. "I think you have everything well in hand here. I'll be in ICU checking on the other half of this pair of idiots."

Emma and Helena chuckled as Regina left the room. "Well done," Helena murmured. "You impressed the boss lady."

"We both know she was testing me."

Helena nodded. "And you passed with flying colors."

Emma let out the breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding. "You have no idea how much I needed to be right about this." _And not just because of my job. _She knew she didn't need to add that, especially not in front of the nurses.

"I know." Helena bent back over the patient.

"It's a good thing then that this was not the first time I saw one. And had a really great heart surgeon show me what to do."

Helena laughed. The she leaned closer to Emma, so she could whisper. "You didn't really need Regina's help just now, did you? You just wanted her to touch you."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I'd risk looking incompetent for one tiny, not to mention _professional,_ touch?"

Helena's raised eyebrow was her only answer.

"Let's find out why our guy was bleeding around his heart, okay?" Emma winked. "And I'm not gonna tell. Ever."

"That's what _you_ think."

—*—*—

Pete looked sideways at Regina as she checked the other shooting victim. "You didn't have to worry about our transfer," he remarked casually. "She's good. She aced your little test."

Regina chuckled, feeling inexplicably proud. "She did. She's done it before," she replied. "Nobody's _that_ confident the first time they ram a 16-gauge needle into a patient's chest."

"If she's done it before, why did she need you to guide her hand?"

Regina shrugged the question off, but her mind had mulled over the same thing since she left the trauma room. _Why indeed? _And why had she done it? She didn't usually help by touching her residents. She didn't touch them, period. Touching wasn't her thing, unless it was good friends or family.

_I can't let her get to me like that. I just can't._

—*—*—

Their shift was over when Emma and Helena finally sent their patient to the OR for further surgery and made their way to the break room. Myka smiled at them from her comfortable position on the sofa. "Hey, you two."

"Hey," Emma replied, feeling tired and wired at the same time.

"It's only ten," H.G. said. "That's almost early. Are you done?" she asked Myka.

Myka nodded and got up, stretching her body as she went. "Time to go home and leave the fun stuff to the Beta team."

Emma looked around. "Do you know if—?"

"On the roof, most likely," H.G. replied. "It's where she goes to come down after a shift before she goes home."

"_If_ she goes home," Myka mumbled.

"Make sure she does, okay?" Helena said quietly. "I think you could both use some sleep after last night." She grinned widely when Emma blushed and nodded.

—*—*—

Emma took the elevator to the top floor and looked around for the door to the roof. Once she found it, she paused to take a deep breath before opening the door slowly and stepping outside. She closed the door quietly behind herself, then looked around. It was darker than she had anticipated and it took her eyes a moment to adjust after the brightness of the hospital's interior. The roof was only lit by a few red warning lights on the corners of the lower roof and the helipad. Emma looked around, but Regina was nowhere to be seen. With a sigh, she leaned back against the door. "Damn," she said. "Stop hiding from me."

"What makes you think that anybody would be hiding from you, Doctor Swan?"

_Regina._ Emma looked around. "Well, it sure looks like you tried to keep your distance from me today," she replied as she slowly walked forward. "Which could lead me to the assumption that you were avoiding me."

"You've been here for one day and you're already assuming that everything is about you? That bodes well for your future on this team."

The voice was closer now and Emma walked towards the sound. "So, if you weren't avoiding me today, you won't mind me joining you now, I guess." Emma rounded a corner and almost stumbled over Regina who was sitting on the floor, her back against the wall. "You won't mind if we talk, right?"

Regina looked up with a glare."Talk?" she asked imperiously. "I'm not sure what we'd have to talk about."

Emma sat down next to Regina, leaving only a sliver of space between them. She grinned when her boss moved away, widening the gap immediately. "That's bull, Doctor Mills," Emma stated as calmly as she could. "We have lots to talk about, not the least of which is the fact that I'm a new member of your team and should therefore be of _some_ interest to you."

Regina snorted. "So you want to talk about—"

"I don't want to talk about our jobs, no," Emma interrupted.

"What else could be of interest to me?"

Emma wondered if she imagined the slight shakiness in Regina's voice. For a second she contemplated just leaning over and kissing Regina because _damn_ she missed the feeling of those lips against hers. She let the thought go since she didn't fancy being fired for sexual harassment, but that didn't stop her heart from racing inside her chest. "I wanted to apologize," she said instead.

Regina looked at her sharply. "Oh?" she asked. "Are you sure you don't want _me_ to apologize to _you_ for your _really rough_ morning?" Her question was dripping in sarcasm.

"What? No! What are you … huh?" Emma abruptly stopped her rambling. She had a feeling she was missing an important part of the conversation, and took a deep breath to stave off the anger she was beginning to feel. "What are you talking about?" she finally asked.

Regina saw the confusion and anger forming on Emma's face and she had to fight down the urge to reach over and smooth her brow. It would be so easy just to give in and ... _no_. She cleared her throat. "The first thing you said this morning was that you were late because you had _such a rough morning_."

Regina realized she sounded petty and rolled her eyes at herself, wishing she could take back the words. Maybe she should just get up and leave. She tensed her muscles to stand, but a hand on her arm stopped her.

"Don't run," Emma demanded, getting even angrier now. All she had wanted was to apologize, so they could go back to the kissing part. She _really_ wanted to get back to the kissing part.

"I do not run," Regina replied darkly, muscles still tense. "That seems to be your specialty."

With that Emma's disappointment and anger came to a boil. "My _specialty_ is general surgery, Doctor Mills," she shot back venomously. "Well, trauma now."

She let go of Regina as if her arm burned her. "And for your information," she continued hotly, "what made my morning _really rough_ was the fact that I had to leave your bed to get here for my _first fucking day_ at my new job, and I really couldn't afford to be late! I panicked and ran out before I remembered to leave my name and number!" Emma exhaled loudly, feeling her anger leave with the hot air, only to be replaced by all the weariness she felt after a long day and a very short night. A _fantastic_ short night. She gave Regina a sad smile. "When all I wanted was to wake you up and continue where we had left off a few hours earlier."

Regina watched Emma carefully in the dim light, realizing that she was being honest. _Okay, so maybe she had taken Emma's behavior that morning the wrong way, but that didn't really change things._ Regina started to say exactly that, but the words just wouldn't form. "You were still late," she finally said with a small smile of her own.

Emma stared at her. "That's all you have to say to that?" She shook her head and snorted. "I'm sorry," she added after a pause, hope fleeing her heart. "I guess I shouldn't have hoped that you share my feelings about last night." Emma stood, hoping she could get off this roof before she started to cry.

Regina recognized that this was the perfect opportunity to end this ... unfortunate thing between them once and for all, but again her throat constricted around the words, and again something else came out. "What _are_ your feelings about last night?" she whispered as she jumped up before Emma could leave.

"What?" Emma stopped in her tracks and turned around. Regina was standing only inches away, much closer than she had anticipated, and whatever she wanted to say flew right out of her mind.

Regina stared at her shoes. "W-What are your feelings—?"

Emma didn't leave her time to finish the question before she did what she had wanted to do ever since she woke up that morning. She curled her hands into Regina's scrub top and pulled her closer, then kissed her as fiercely and as passionately as she knew how, pouring her feelings about their night together into the melding of their lips.

Regina moaned deep in her throat, which only spurred Emma on more. She gently pushed Regina back against the wall and deepened their kiss even further as she let her hands wander down Regina's arms and around her back. There was no space between them as their tongues wrapped around each other, eliciting moans and panting breaths through their noses.

Regina's hands slid into Emma's hair, pulling her head impossibly closer as Emma's thigh slipped between Regina's legs and pushed her harder against the wall. Regina gasped loudly and wrenched her mouth from Emma's. Her hands moved to Emma's shoulders and pushed her away before she would allow herself to be pulled into another kiss, knowing that neither of them would be able to stop this if she didn't do it right now.

Emma inhaled deeply to steady her breathing. Her eyes searched Regina's, but the dark eyes were unreadable. "Hey," she whispered with a small half-grin. She leaned in closer and pressed a soft, quick kiss to the lips that were so tantalizingly close. "_This_," she said softly, "is what I feel about last night."

Regina swallowed and closed her eyes. She knew that this could never be, and knowing they felt the same way about their night together only made what she was about to say so much harder.

"I would like to take you out to dinner," Emma continued with a hopeful smile, ignorant of Regina's internal struggle. "I want us to go on a date ... a second date, if you will," she continued, grinning playfully now. "If you count last night as our first date. Which I sort of do."

Regina gently pushed Emma away, creating the distance she needed to get out the words she wasn't sure she wanted to say. She couldn't bring herself to meet Emma's eyes, certain that her own would reveal things she'd rather keep to herself. "I can't," she said to Emma's chest.

"I didn't say when," Emma replied quietly, but her voice had lost some of its joyful hope.

Regina rolled her eyes with a long, almost sad sigh. "I can't date you, Doctor Swan," she said, trying to sound firm and at least somewhat professional, but the words came out strangled by the vise she felt closing around her throat. "I'm your boss, it's completely unprofessional. Out of the question."

Emma dropped her hands from Regina's body and wrapped them around herself. She should have expected that, but hearing it still hurt. "But ... but you feel this, too," she protested. "I know you do. The way you just kissed me—"

"Should never have happened, and I apologize," Regina said softly. "I know this is not what you expected when you transferred here, so I'll understand if you want to transfer out of my team."

"And I guess you're going to write me a glowing letter of recommendation?" Emma asked sarcastically.

"Of course." Regina sounded confused.

"Based on what? My technique in bed? The dexterity of my tongue and fingers?" Emma snorted, completely pissed off again. She wondered how it was possible for this woman to send her emotions running the gamut from elated to devastated in mere seconds. "I'm _not_ going to transfer out, Doctor Mills. I think I'm right where I want to be. _And_ I want to date you."

"Emma ..."

Emma held up her hands. "I know, I know, you're my boss." She searched Regina's face and seemed to find what she was looking for in the dark eyes watching her wearily. "I know you feel this too, Regina," she said softly. "If I didn't work here, you _would_ date me."

Before Regina could deny that, Emma kissed her again, hard. Then she stepped back and walked towards the door. Before she opened it, she called back over her shoulder. "I'm not giving up, you know. I _will_ take you out on a date one day. Soon."

She turned her head to look back, remembering something else. "Helena and Myka said to make sure you go home tonight. So, _please,_ go home and get some sleep." With that, she opened the door and walked inside, leaving Regina to stare after her.

Regina shook her head and let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She knew she could fall in love with Emma, and that thought scared her more than she was ready to admit. "You're dangerous, Emma Swan."

She pushed herself off the wall to go home.

* * *

**That was the pilot. Pick it up or let it go?**


	3. Episode 2: The Breakfast Club

**All disclaimers still apply.**

**A/N: Thank you for the great response to the "pilot", which made me go ahead with the story. I don't know how far I'll take this (it's a bit of an experiment) or how often I'll be able to update this because the chapters are long and take a lot of time to write, and we all know RL can be quite ignorant of our needs like that sometimes ...  
**

* * *

**Episode 2 – The Breakfast Club**

Myka slapped the alarm and curled back into Helena's arms. "Don't wanna get up," she mumbled sleepily. "Way too early."

"Good morning, darling." H.G. ran her hand through Myka's curls with a soft smile.

"Why are you awake?" Myka murmured.

"I enjoy watching you sleep."

Myka stretched languidly, then sat up against the headboard. "That's creepy," she said. "And corny. It's a good thing I love you."

"Yes, darling." H.G. grinned broadly as she leaned in for a kiss.

"Bad dreams?" Myka asked gently when they parted. It wasn't unusual for her wife to spend half the night awake due to nightmares.

H.G. shrugged. "The usual." She kissed Myka again to stop any further probing before slowly rolling out of bed. Myka didn't need to know that she could still feel the burning sand on her skin, in her hair, in her eyes, could still feel the bullet entering her body. H.G. shook her head once to dispel those thoughts before facing Myka again. "Wanna save on water and share a shower, darling?"

"Absolutely." Myka jumped up, hiding her sigh with the rustling of the sheets. She was worried about H.G., but it was hard enough to get her to admit she had nightmares in the first place, and she outright refused to talk about them. She wondered if Regina would have a better chance. It would sting a little but if it helped H.G. she would deal with it. She nodded to herself, deciding she'd ask Regina if she'd talk to Helena.

Sometimes it still felt strange to Myka that her wife and her boss had so much history, had known each other for so long, but most days it was a very good thing. Their small team worked as the perfect unit, and Myka was sure they could integrate Emma into the team just fine. If Regina only were a little less stubborn, that was.

Myka stretched and followed H.G. into the bathroom. "We don't have that much time," she reminded her wife. "I told Emma to meet us at Ruby's in an hour."

"And Regina is coming too?"

Myka nodded with a wide grin as she turned on the water to let it warm.

H.G.'s smile turned wicked. "Regina has no idea Emma will be there, right?"

Myka dragged H.G. into the shower stall with a laugh and a shake of her head. "Come on, we're wasting valuable time."

—*—*—

_ She was writhing under her, head straining up from the bed to hunt for another kiss. Their lips had only been apart for seconds but that was more than long enough for both of them. Regina's hand slid over breasts dusted liberally with light freckles and a scar she wants to ask about but not right now, ending up at a hardened tip, teasing and twisting and touching and tweaking. They kept kissing passionately, wetly, while their hands tried to reach everywhere at once. And suddenly a hand, _ Emma's_ hand was where she had wanted it for what felt like hours._

_"Don't tease," Regina managed to rasp when the hand didn't continue its journey._

_ "It's only teasing if I don't follow through," Emma replied as she pushed two fingers deeply inside and began a slow but thoroughly enticing rhythm. _

_Regina's eyes rolled back in her head as she gave herself over to the pleasure. "More," she groaned. "Please. More."_

"Mom! Mom!"

The excited shouts startled Regina from her dream, heart racing and body flushed from arousal. She barely had a second before a 60-pound ball of energy impacted her bed and her body with a gleeful giggle, and she had to take several deep breaths before she had calmed enough to pull her son into a loving cuddle and kiss his head. "Good morning, sweetheart." Her voice sounded raspier than usual to her own ears. "Why are you up so early?"

"Morning, Mom." Henry beamed at her. "Grandpa said you came home last night." He snuggled into her arms with a content sigh. "He says breakfast is ready and to get up."

Regina ran her hand through Henry's unruly hair. "I wanted to see you last night, so I came home," she explained. "And now I'd much rather stay here all day and play with you than get up." _Or go to work and see Emma Swan. It's bad enough that she haunts my dreams now._

"You have to go to work and save people," Henry said with the earnestness and patience of a child who had heard that explanation a lot as he slowly pulled out of her arms to get up. "And I have to go to school."

"I know, sweetheart, I know." Regina sat up as well. "But since I won't get to see you on the weekend, I thought I'd at least see you this morning, okay?" She reached over and tickled Henry, who squirmed and giggled until he was breathless.

"Okay, okay, Mom!" he yelled as he leaped off the bed as soon as Regina let up a little. "Come have breakfast, I'm starving." He ran out of the room without a backwards glance.

Regina shook her head with a small, slightly rueful smile. Maybe she should be glad that Henry had pulled her from her erotic dream featuring Emma Swan in astounding detail, but a part of her wanted nothing more than to close her eyes again and go back to it. _Ah, well … _she needed to get up anyway, if she wanted to make their ritual breakfast on time.

"Best alarm clock in the world," she muttered as she got out of bed, in the end unable to be anything but charmed by her son despite the rude awakening.

It was always a balm to her soul to see her son in the mornings, she thought as the hot water ran down her body in the shower. She often felt bad that her son grew up with his grandfather more than her, but with her job it was the only solution. Her guilt was assuaged a little by the fact that Henry clearly adored his grandfather and vice versa, and that by living with Henry Sr. her son had the opportunity to grow up in a nice, warm home with lots of land around and a good school nearby. Her own South Pointe Park condo just wasn't the same, beautiful though it was. With her father, Henry had the stability he needed while still seeing his mother every chance she could. It still hurt sometimes, and she knew she missed things other mothers didn't but that was the price she had to pay for being good at her job.

She pulled on her jeans and a white button-up shirt and went downstairs, still toweling her hair. "Good morning, Rosa," she greeted her father's housekeeper and all-around good soul.

"Good morning, corazon."

Regina walked over to the woman who had raised her at least as much as her own mother had, and much better and with more love too. "Coffee smells good," she sighed. "You can't believe the stuff we have at the hospital."

"Life is too short to drink bad coffee," Rose said seriously as she whirled the spatula in her hand. "What would you like for breakfast?"

Regina enjoyed two long sips of coffee before replying with a short shake of her head. "I'm meeting H.G. and Myka for breakfast," she explained.

Rosa turned to face her fully. "It's good that Helena is back from that horrible place." Her voice took on a hard edge. "War does bad things to people, and Myka was so sad all the time, so worried."

"She's much happier now. We _all_ are." Regina couldn't help her grin. "Helena and Myka were down at the cabin for a week before they had to come back to work yesterday."

Rosa laughed. "That was a nice thing you did for them." Then she paused to study Regina's face for a long moment. "Did something happen to you? You look different …"

Regina's breath hitched, but she shook her head rapidly. _That was impossible._ "No … n-nothing," she replied, already knowing it was too fast, too squeaky to convince Rosa. "Nothing important anyway," she amended.

Rosa put down the spatula and wiped her hands on her apron, before pushing Regina back to the table by her shoulders. "Sit," she ordered. "Now tell me."

Regina winced. "I can't, Rosa," she said, not actually all that sorry to miss the inquisition for now. "I have to be at Ruby's in half an hour."

"Go then," Rosa said, pointing her spatula towards the back door. "But don't think I will forget."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Regina grinned as she jogged out of the room in search of her son.

—*—*—

Emma got dressed with much more care than she normally would for a shift at the hospital considering she'd be changing into scrubs the minute she walked into work. This morning was different, however. This morning she was meeting Regina for breakfast, and she wanted to look good. She was glad, however, that Helena and Myka would be there as a buffer. It was always a good thing to have great people to work with, people you liked and who liked you, people who had your back when you needed them. She'd had that in Seattle, and it looked like she might have that again here in Miami.

If she could get Regina to let her in, at least a little.

The camaraderie with Myka and Helena made her miss Seattle a little less. She hadn't wanted to leave but had been forced to out of a sheer sense of self-preservation. And now … well, maybe it would turn out to be the best decision she had ever made. _Or the worst._

Thinking of her old hospital reminded Emma that Myka had liked her scrub cap the day before, and she decided that she could transfer this one tradition from Seattle to Miami as well. She picked up her phone and pulled up a name from her contacts, then typed out a quick text. To her surprise, her phone rang twenty seconds later.

"Forgot to set your phone to vibrate again, Torres?" she asked with a wide grin that pulled at her cheeks.

"On call and wide awake," came the dry reply around a yawn.

"Ouch." It was the middle of the night in Seattle after all. "Sorry about that."

"Yeah, yeah. How's my hometown treating you? I googled your new boss a little and asked around, and she seems to be very good at what she does … doesn't mean she's not a total bitch, though. So spill."

Emma smiled at the hint of protectiveness she could hear in her friend's voice. "She's amazing," she replied, hoping her voice wouldn't betray just _how_ amazing she found Regina. "Brilliant, driven." _Beautiful, sexy, unattainable for now …_

The low chuckle that came through the phone told Emma that she hadn't sounded as casual as she had hoped. "Sounds like you have a crush on her already, Swan. Well, I saw a picture of her, so I'm not that surprised, you know. Even Yang said she was hot, and you don't want to know what Karev said …"

Emma wasn't sure what to say, so she hesitated too long. "Er …"

"Uh-oh," Callie Torres said seriously. "Don't tell me it's more than a crush already, Swan. You _just_ got there!" Emma could practically hear her friend's eye roll before she turned serious again. "Are you okay, though? We miss you here but it's good that you managed to get out so quickly."

"Is he still around?"

"Your stalker? No, he was fired after the assault and his arrest, but last I heard he's out on bail, so ... be careful, Swan. You don't know if he's learned his lesson yet. Nobody here's going to tell him where you went, but he might come after you nonetheless."

Emma swallowed. "I hope I'm far enough away for him to lose interest, but I'll be careful no matter what."

"Why didn't you ever tell us he was getting that bad? He was after you for months!"

"I thought I could handle him, you know," Emma said defensively. "I thought he was just the usual brand of creepy … I had no idea he was that close to the edge. Besides, what could you have done about it?"

"Well, I could have broken his legs in twenty different places for starters, and then Yang could have threatened to carve out his heart with a blunt scalpel while Grey held him down. And Arizona would have made his ears bleed with a long story about one of her tiny humans … you know she loves telling those stories … And that's before we would have let Bailey have …"

Emma laughed out loud at the images in her head. "Stop please. I can't breathe." She took a deep breath between giggles. "God, I miss all of you, you know."

"We know," Torres said softly. "But it looks like you're making new friends quickly."

"What do you mean?"

"Mills? Your boss?" Torres reminded her. "Want to tell me what's going on there?"

Emma cleared her throat. "We spent the night together," she muttered.

"You slept with your boss?" Torres shouted into the phone, but Emma could hear the glee in her voice. "_Such_ a Seattle Grace thing to do. Seems we trained you well here …"

"It wasn't like that," Emma blurted. "I didn't know who she was at the time. We met in a bar, had a few drinks, and then I went home with her."

"You know you could have googled your new boss before driving down there just like I did, right?" Callie asked. "I was surprised I'd never met her growing up. She's local."

"I had other things on my mind at the time," Emma reminder her. "Here's the thing, Callie: I want to date her," she added wistfully, "but she says she can't because she's my boss. What do I do?"

"Does she feel the same way about you?"

Emma nodded before realizing that her friend couldn't see her. "Yeah, I think she does."

"Then to hell with her being your boss, Emma," Callie insisted. "We both know how short life can be, so go for it."

"Yeah, that's the plan," Emma agreed. "I'm actually meeting her and the other two doctors on the team for breakfast now."

"So she won't date you, but a breakfast date is fine?"

Emma chuckled. "She doesn't know I'm coming."

Torres laughed. "Sneaky, I like it." There was a pause. "Be careful, though, okay? Watch out for Jones … and your heart."

_Too late,_ Emma thought. "I will," she said instead. "Okay, gotta go. It was good to hear your voice. Tell everyone I said hi."

"Will do. Oh, and I'll text you the number you wanted."

"Thanks."

—*—*—

Ruby's was crowded even at 7am, every booth and table filled with people who desperately clung to their mugs just trying to get up. Emma walked around the line forming at the counter to see if she could spot her coworkers.

"Swan!" An arm shot up at a booth in the far corner and Emma experienced a slight twinge of disappointment when she saw that Myka and Helena were alone. She swiftly walked over to them, barely avoiding a scantily-clad waitress, and sank into the seat across from the grinning couple.

"Sorry, I'm late," Emma breathed out.

"I don't think you are actually," Myka replied graciously.

"Definitely not as late as Regina," H.G. pointed out.

Emma's heart rate picked up. "So she's coming?"

Myka and Helena shared a small smile at the thinly veiled interest in Emma's voice. "Unless she's been called in, she'll be here," Myka reassured her.

"She does function a lot better with Ruby's _cubano_ in her," H.G. added.

"Don't we all?" Myka sighed.

"I don't think I've ever had a _cubano_ before," Emma remarked. "But if it's coffee, you can bet I'll give it a try."

"Believe us, Ruby's coffee is a religious experience," Myka said. "Too bad she doesn't deliver."

"But the hospital is just around the corner …"

"It's a principle Ruby's grandmother established when she was still running the diner, and Ruby has stayed true to tradition …"

"It's a good tradition," the scantily-clad waitress said from right beside their table. "Morning, ladies," she greeted them. "Did you forget to drag Regina out of that hospital of yours this morning?" She turned her full attention and a teasing smile on Emma. "Hello, Beautiful, my name is Ruby and I run this little piece of paradise. What's your name? You know, just so I know who made my heart beat faster just now."

Emma blushed at the blatant flirting, even though she could tell that it wasn't particularly serious, which was confirmed when she saw that Myka and Helena were almost doubled over from laughing at the look on her face. "I'm Emma," she told Ruby with a bright smile. She did know how to flirt back, after all. "I'm new in town."

"Well, I'm looking forward to seeing you in here on a regular basis," Ruby replied, leaning down a little to offer Emma a good look at her assets.

Emma choked a little on her words at the display, but decided to roll with it. "That totally depends on whether or not your coffee is as good as these two claim it is," she said with a wink. "And I'm from Seattle, I know my coffee."

Ruby laughed loudly. "Honey, you don't know nothing. You haven't had coffee until you've had Cuban coffee, trust me."

Unseen by all of them, Regina had come into the diner and was standing a few feet away. She had been shocked into stopping, hidden a little by the coffee line, when she realized that Emma was sitting across from her friends. She allowed herself a moment to watch her, to get over her surprise at seeing her, a moment sorely needed to build up the walls she hadn't thought necessary for a friendly breakfast.

Just as Regina was about ready to join her team at the table, she watched as Ruby turned up the charm and began to flirt shamelessly with Emma. She knew that Ruby did that to everyone, man or woman, and that it didn't necessarily mean anything, but for the first time in years she didn't find Ruby's teasing and flirting amusing at all.

In fact, it was downright annoying, and it needed to stop.

It was that thought more than anything else that propelled her toward the table in a few quick steps. "So sorry I'm late," she drawled, glaring at Ruby, then raising an eyebrow at H.G. and Myka as a silent reprimand. She avoided Emma completely.

"Oh hey, Regina," Ruby looked confused at the thunderous look on Regina's face for a moment but her sunny grin was back in just a few seconds. "I was just getting to know your new friend Emma here."

"We're _not_ friends," Regina barked before she could stop herself. She could see Myka's grimace out of the corner of her eye, and her gaze went to Emma as she wondered what the other woman would think of her outburst.

Emma smirked at her boss before giving Ruby a small smile. "Yet, she means," she said calmly. "But I have high hopes."

Ruby looked from Emma to Regina and back, her mind working a mile a minute behind her eyes. She turned to Myka with a questioning look and the smirk she received back confirmed that she wasn't just imagining the crackling tension between the two women. She had a feeling things were about to become very interesting in Dr. Mills' well-run trauma unit. She turned to Regina. "Are you going to sit down or are you going to remain standing today?"

Regina glared at the only empty seat at the table, right next to Emma, before sliding into the booth with a small sigh. It was way too early for drama. "Are you going to get us coffee or are you going to stand here flirting with my new resident?" she shot back, biting her lip when she realized what she'd said. _Dammit, what was it about Emma Swan's presence that made her lose her cool all the time?_ Now they'd all think she was jealous. Which she clearly wasn't. _At all. _

Regina kept her eyes on the table in front of her, avoiding the knowing look she knew she'd find on Myka's and H.G.'s faces if she looked up. _Why on earth would they invite Emma for breakfast anyway? This is _our_ tradition,_ she thought, a scowl forming on her face.

Ruby nudged her with an evil grin as she handed Emma a menu, knowing she'd be the only one who might need one. "Be right back with your coffee, ladies."

Emma had watched Regina from the first moment she had noticed her presence, and what she had seen — was _still_ seeing — gave her hope. She wondered if Regina knew how expressive her eyes and face were, not quite daring to hope that she brought that out in her boss. She had been able to see the jealousy spark in those eyes, but also the desperate attempt to appear unaffected, and she knew for sure that Regina was a lot of things in her presence, but cool, calm and collected were not among them, no matter how hard she pretended to be.

When she turned her gaze from Regina — who was clinging to the edge of the booth as if Emma had a really bad case of B.O. — to Myka and Helena, she had to smile at the satisfied grins on both their faces.

With a slightly devilish grin, Emma scooted closer to Regina, knowing she had nowhere to go.

—*—*—

Their breakfast was cut short when all their pagers went off, calling them in early. Regina was the only one who breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of having to hurry to the trauma unit because the driver of a semi transporting hazardous chemicals had lost control of his rig and crashed into oncoming traffic severely injuring dozens of people as it exploded.

"Does that happen often?" Emma asked as they all gathered their things and dropped money on the table. "Getting called in early?"

"You'll get used to it," Myka replied as H.G. nodded while downing the last of her coffee. "It usually only happens when something major like this happens and they need all hands on deck."

"If it's too much for you, Dr. Swan, you're very welcome to transfer back to wherever you came from," Regina added darkly.

Emma knew she had pushed Regina hard this morning, and she was just lashing out in frustration. Emma hoped it wasn't _just_ general frustration with her on Regina's part because the closeness she had kept up as well as the casual touches she had managed had Emma a little more riled up than she thought she would be. With all this in mind, she swallowed back a snarky retort and simply shrugged. "Not a problem, Dr. Mills."

Regina nodded and turned to go, but not without giving the rest of her coffee a final, lingering glance. "We're going to need a lot of coffee today," she sighed as she turned to walk away. "I wish Ruby delivered …"

Emma's eyes followed her all the way to the door while she wished Regina would look at her the way she did at the coffee.

She also had a sudden inspiration.

"You coming?" H.G. asked, hand in the small of Myka's back as they walked out.

"Go ahead. I need one second," Emma told her distractedly, eyes roaming the diner for what she wanted. When she saw H.G. giving her a curious look, she added, "Go! I swear I'm right behind you."

—*—*—

It was hell.

For the first time in her medical career Emma felt like she was in the wrong place and the completely wrong profession. She had never experienced anything like this day and now, as the day drew to its close, she finally had a few minutes to breathe between people dying under her hands left, right and center.

Maybe it was a good thing that this happened on only her second day at Miami Trauma, maybe she had needed the wake-up call that showed her the real difference between an emergency room and a dedicated trauma center.

The difference was the _constant_ proximity to death.

And maybe, _just maybe_ she just wasn't cut out for that, for working with the grim reaper watching over her shoulder the whole time. Not that people hadn't died in the ER back in Seattle while they tried to save them. There had been ferry accidents and shootings and other disastrous events there as well, but at least there had been moments when the next patient you turned to _would_ make it, and they were going to make it without you having to drag them away from death's door by diving into their body with both hands, forcing their hearts to keep beating while desperately trying to find one of the dozen or so things that were dragging them towards oblivion.

Here at Miami Trauma, Emma had realized over the course of the day, _every_ patient they had was at death's door, and most had one foot already well over the threshold. _Circling the drain_ was what Pete had called it. _The Golden Hour_, H.G. had added as they ran back and forth between patients with just enough time to swap their bloody gloves for a pair of fresh ones.

_The patient's last chance, _ Regina had added with determination on her face as she directed both trauma teams to where they were most needed, while Pete directed the flow of incoming trauma patients to any available trauma suite.

Pete at work was a wonder to behold, Emma thought, as he calmly stood in the center of the storm, communicating with Regina with just a nod or a few words, sending people to where they needed to go. The ones not yet close to death he sent to the ER with a few short words for the EMTs who nodded and ran off with their patients, down the long corridor that connected the trauma center to the hospital next door.

But it was Regina who completely stunned Emma that day with her absolute determination to patch every patient up enough so they could make it to an OR and be saved. She worked with an intensity that rivaled any of the great doctors she had worked with before, and Emma had to remind herself often that she had her own patients to focus on. It was probably a good thing that Regina worked in another trauma suite most of the day, once more leaving Emma with H.G. or Myka. The few cases she had been working on the same patient as Regina, however, had been an absolute revelation, and even amidst all the mayhem and death, Emma couldn't help but fall a little bit harder.

Now the worst was over and Emma was resting in an arm chair, exhausted physically and mentally. She opened one eye and looked around the break room only to realize that H.G. and Myka looked about as great as she felt, and that Regina was nowhere to be seen. Emma sighed heavily as she wondered if she would have to chase her boss all over the hospital again just to see her.

"She's checking on the patients," H.G. mumbled without opening her eyes. "You know, just in case you were wondering where Regina was."

"How did you …?"

Myka laughed lightly. "Don't ask, Emma. Apparently, Helena can see even with her eyes closed."

H.G. huffed. "Not well enough," she grumbled as she rubbed her shoulder.

Emma watched as Myka gripped H.G.'s thigh in response and wondered what that was all about, but before she could say anything, Myka gave a her a look that told her not to ask right now.

"How are you holding up, Swan?" H.G. asked after a long moment of silence, eyes still closed.

Emma groaned in response, but shook her head. It wouldn't do to reveal her doubts, even though they were burning a hole in her mind.

"That well, eh?" Myka tried to lighten the mood, but turned serious when she saw the expression on Emma's face. "Emma, I know we've only met yesterday but we're your team, and we all feel bad after tough days … So, what's going on in your head?"

"I've never seen anything like today," Emma grudgingly admitted after a long enough pause that Myka had begun to wonder if she'd asked too much of their new team mate. "So many people died today … died when I tried to save them … and there was nothing I …" Emma swallowed hard. "I don't know if I can do this. Maybe I should just …"

Regina listened from just inside the door as Emma talked to Myka and Helena. She was standing behind Emma, but Myka had seen her come in and had shaken her head once, which had stopped Regina in her tracks. She continued to listen despite the feeling that it was somehow wrong, but she told herself that she had to know if the new doctor on her team couldn't cut it. She couldn't work with doctors who didn't trust in their own abilities. It was far better to cut your losses and find somebody else for the position, someone who didn't make things so complicated.

At least that was what Regina told herself. She listened to Emma, thinking that this was another perfect opportunity to end this thing between them once and for all, to make sure that Emma disappeared from her life. She stepped forward to make her presence known, to confirm that Emma maybe really should think about this once more, but what came out of her mouth was, "You did good work today, Dr. Swan."

Regina stopped in her tracks when she heard what had just come out of her own mouth, but apparently her rebellious heart wasn't done overriding her brain. "On days like today, we all wonder if we're in the right place, if we're the right person for this job."

Emma turned to look up at her with wide green eyes. "And what is the conclusion you come to?"

Regina let out a small sigh. "People die," she said simply. "As harsh as that sounds, it's a fact of life, especially in a trauma unit." She took another step closer. "But a lot of people _didn't_ die today because of us, because of _your_ work, _your_ ability to take a human heart in your hand and force it to beat another few minutes, and then a few more after that. This job is hard, Dr. Swan, but given time you could be great at it."

Emma's eyes stayed on hers for several seconds, and Regina wondered if it was to judge her sincerity. She _had_ been sincere, though, and it made her question her sanity for a fleeting second. _It couldn't really be that she liked having Emma around, could it? Not when Emma made her life a hundred percent more complicated._

Finally, Emma nodded once and closed her eyes, seemingly satisfied with what she found in Regina's eyes. Regina stared at her a second longer, fighting her urge to ask Emma what she had seen in her eyes. To stop herself, she turned and quickly headed for the coffee pot. "Damn, I need coffee," she declared, her voice a little louder than necessary. She poured a cup from the huge pot, then took a whiff of what she was about to ingest. "Does anyone have an idea when this coffee was made?"

"I made a pot around 7:30 this morning," Pete muttered while delivering a stack of files onto the table. "That's probably still it."

"Urgh." Regina threw the coffee in the sink with a look of disgust. "I'll be on the roof," she told her team. "If the trauma unit explodes within the next fifteen minutes, let me know." She didn't wait for a response before leaving with a sigh. She needed a moment away from Emma anyway.

Emma's eyes stayed on Regina until she was completely out of sight. Then she got up from the sofa and followed her out the door. "I need to make a phone call," she said over her shoulder. "Be right back."

"Yeah, right," Myka laughed as the door closed behind Emma.

—*—*—

When Emma returned fifteen minutes later, the break room was empty, so she made her way to the roof where she assumed everyone was. On the way she passed by Pete's station and deposited her little gift at his place, hoping he'd return soon.

She found Regina, Helena, and Myka sitting in deck chairs as close to the edge of the roof as they could. It was almost completely dark out by now — or as dark as a metropolis ever got — but the roof was illuminated by the red warning lights of the helipad above them, which gave everything a slightly eerie glow.

As she got closer, Emma noticed that her team mates were just sitting in companionable silence, staring out over the water, enjoying the soft breeze. Myka's hand rested on Helena's arms and her fingers were moving in circles, while Helena's hand rested on Myka's leg.

Regina was the first one to notice her presence. "Dr. Swan," she greeted neutrally.

"Hey, Emma," Myka said, a lot more cheerfully than Regina. "I thought you'd gotten lost somewhere."

Emma laughed. "This place isn't that big," she said with a smile. "I told you I needed a few minutes."

"So you did," Myka replied.

"Full of secrets today, our lovely new doctor," H.G. added and Emma could practically hear her smirking.

"No big secret, H.G.," Emma retorted, "and I'm definitely willing to share."

At that, all three women turned in their seat. "Oh?"

"Yep," Emma grinned and revealed the cardboard tray filled with coffee cups she had hidden behind her back.

"Is that …?" Myka was the first to jump to her feet.

"Ruby's?" H.G. was right on her heels, one hand already reaching for the coffee. "How on earth did you manage to get her to deliver?"

"Now _that_ is a secret I can't reveal," Emma replied with a wink, her eyes focusing on Regina who had remained in her seat but was looking at her with an unreadable expression on her face. "I might tell you later," she told Myka and Helena over her shoulder, distracted by the look in Regina's eyes.

H.G. and Myka shared a look. "I guess that's our cue to leave," Myka muttered good-naturedly as she took H.G. by the hand and dragged her away.

Neither Regina nor Emma really noticed, but Regina finally got up from her chair and stepped closer to Emma. "Is that really from Ruby's?" she asked softly.

"It is," Emma confirmed, holding out a cup for Regina to take. "I thought we could all use some good coffee."

Regina took the cup and removed the lid to inhale deeply before taking her first long sip. She closed her eyes as the coffee hit her tastebuds and she let out a long, quiet moan that made Emma swallow. "Damn, this is so good," Regina murmured, putting the lid back on. "I could kiss you right now."

Emma swallowed again, harder this time, wondering where all the moisture in her mouth had gone. "I wouldn't say no to that," she croaked, even though she could see from the look on Regina's face that she was startled by her own words. "You know that."

"I know." Regina's voice was soft, contemplative. "And then what, Dr. Swan?"

"Well, you could call me Emma for starters," Emma replied, trying to keep the mood light so as not to scare Regina off.

"And then?" Regina insisted. "Dinner? Followed by breakfast, presumably?"

"A date, Regina," Emma replied seriously. "That's what I've wanted since I met you … a chance to make you see if this thing between us could develop into something more."

Regina finished her coffee before taking a deep breath. "Dr. Sw— _Emma_, we've talked about this. No matter what w— _you_ might want, we can't date … so even if I kissed you right now, nothing would come of it."

Emma perked up at Regina's almost admission. She smiled widely and stepped closer to her boss. "You want to date me too," she whispered with a touch of awe. "Regina, this is crazy … I want you and you want me—"

"I don't," Regina declared swiftly, but the protest died in her throat when she looked into Emma's eyes, so open and vulnerable. "I wish you stopped looking at me like that," she whispered, but she took a small step forward as if pulled by a magnet.

Emma's eyes wandered from Regina's eyes to her lips and back, her hands curling into fists by her side. She didn't notice when her empty coffee cup crumpled in her hand and the last dregs of the drink dribbled to the floor. She wanted to kiss Regina so badly she could feel the desire almost like a tangible being surrounding her, but she held back, wanting, _needing_ Regina to make the first move. "I can't stop looking at you," Emma finally murmured quietly. "I can't even stop thinking about you."

Regina felt the words like a caress on her lips, and they tingled in response. "You're trying to drive me crazy."

"Only in the best way."

"This is never going to work. There is no good way to be crazy," Regina whispered, knowing she was lying. The kind of insanity Emma inspired in her was freeing just as much as it was worrying.

Emma couldn't take it anymore. "Dammit, Regina, kiss me already," she growled.

Regina leaned in to close the distance between them but jumped back a foot when Emma's phone beeped loudly, interrupting their moment.

"No, _no_," Emma breathed, knowing instantly that the spell was irrevocably broken. "Fuck."

Regina turned away from her and looked out over the water, arms wrapped around herself. "You better check your messages, Dr. Swan," she said to the ocean view. "It might be important."

Emma got very, very close to just throwing her phone off the roof in her frustration. She had been so close to feeling those lips on hers again. _So close. _Instead she took out her phone. "It's from Ruby," she told Regina. "Just making the sure we got the coffee." She wasn't going to tell Regina what Ruby's message actually said: _I hope the coffee worked for you. Tell Regina if she won't take you, I will. ;-)_

"Oh?"

There was an odd inflection in Regina's monosyllabic question.

"Yeah," Emma said simply. "She only agreed to deliver it as a favor to me, so she …"

"Well, it seems that you and Ruby got very close in a very short time, if she's already forgetting her principles for you," Regina said darkly. "Makes me wonder what I missed this morning apart from the brazen display she put on for you when I arrived."

"Huh?" Emma was confused. "What display? Okay, so Ruby and I flirted a little, but that's just part of business for her …"

Regina closed her eyes. She had no idea what to do about the feelings churning in her gut. So what if Ruby and Emma had been flirting? It wasn't like she had any right to Emma, not after telling her that there could never be anything between them. But why on earth did the thought hurt so damn much? She had to get away from here, away from Emma Swan. She chuckled darkly as she recognized the pattern. Apparently she was destined to run away from Emma Swan. "I have to go."

Emma watched helplessly for a few moments as Regina walked quickly across the roof before managing to get her own body moving after her. She caught up to Regina just as the elevator doors were closing behind the other woman. Confused and frustrated beyond belief, Emma banged her fist against the closed door before heading for the stairs, hating her life not for the first time that day. Maybe walking would help.

About three floors into her long trek down to the trauma unit she got another text message, this time from Myka.

_What are you doing this weekend? M._

Emma sat down on the stairs and rested her elbows on her legs to reply. She only noticed she was crying when a tear dropped onto the phone display. She wiped the tears off with angry, jerky motions before starting to type with both her thumbs.

_Nothing special. Y?_

The reply came almost immediately. _Keep it free. We're taking you down to the Keys. Hope you have a bikini_.

Emma raised en eyebrow. A weekend away from the hospital, this new city and from constantly thinking about Regina might be a good thing. She quickly typed her reply and hit send.

—*—*—

"And?" H.G. asked as Myka's phone beeped.

"She's coming," Myka replied with a quick glance around to see if Regina was in the vicinity. "But I told her _we_ were taking her to the Keys."

"This could go very, very wrong, darling," Helena pointed out with a small sigh. "It's Regina's cabin after all."

"Definitely," Myka agreed. "Or it could go right, and doesn't Regina deserve that?"

"We can't _make_ her be happy." H.G. shook her head. "At some point she has to actually want it."

"And let it happen."

They looked at each other with matching expressions. "If she kills us both, I want to be buried with your family rather than mine," H.G. finally said.

"Deal."


	4. Episode 3, Part 1 - Coffee First

**Disclaimer: see Chapter 1.**

**A/N: Well, here's another episode, or at least the first part of it. It turned longer and longer and I found a good place to split it, so I went with it. The good thing about that is that you a) get an update now and b) the next one shouldn't take too long either. :)**

**Thanks go to Arolac (letgo-ofcontrol) for help with Rosa's Spanish.**

**As always thank you for all the kudos, favorites, follows, comments and reviews. They make me happy. :)**

* * *

**Episode 3 – Part 1: Coffee First**

On Friday morning Emma dragged herself into Ruby's Diner a little before 11 in the morning, tired beyond belief. Originally, Myka's plan had been to head down to the Keys after an early breakfast to make the most of their three-day off-period but that was before a late car crash on the causeway that included multiple vehicles fully loaded with passengers, among them four children.

Myka, Helena and Emma had crawled out of the trauma center around 4am and had decided to push their trip back a few hours so they could get some sleep.

As usual, Regina had still been at the hospital when the rest of the team had left, and Emma had to tell herself a few times not to be worried about her because it sure as hell wouldn't be appreciated. Even now, her leg _still_ twitched for a second as she wondered if it would be totally pathetic to run over to the trauma center to check if their boss had left.

"You look like roadkill, girl."

Ruby's voice sounded way more amused than concerned, but she was bringing her coffee, so Emma was willing to forgive her as soon as at least some of the brew was inside her system. The coffee she'd had at home just to get out of bed and make it to the diner had long since vanished from her system.

She held a hand out to stop further comments from Ruby. "Coffee first, insults later," she mumbled while Ruby filled her mug with the dark, rich brew.

"Wasn't an insult, just an observation," Ruby replied with a grin. "You sound like your boss when she's suffering from caffeine withdrawal." She grinned unrepentantly. "She really didn't look much better than you when she crawled in here a couple of hours ago."

Emma winced at Regina's name, although she was relieved to know that her boss had left the hospital, hopefully to go home. "Still way too much blood in my coffee stream for this kind of conversation, Ruby."

"Uh-oh." Ruby saw the reaction to Regina on Emma's face, and unceremoniously plopped into the seat across from her. "I take it things aren't going quite the way you want them to, huh?" she asked, a lot more serious now. "Did the coffee order the other day not help? Didn't you tell her you practically begged me to deliver just so _she_ could have her caffeine fix with the best _cubano_ in Miami?"

"I didn't beg," Emma grumbled.

"The point is you _would_ have, if I hadn't given in so easily because I'm a sucker for sweet, sweet romance."

Emma decided not to argue the point and instead focused on her coffee. She still wasn't sure how everything had gone south so badly between her and Regina that evening a couple of days ago. One moment they had been _this_ close to kissing, and the next Regina had acted like Emma had slept with Ruby for five coffees and a delivery.

Emma suddenly sat up straight as she thought back not only to _what_ Regina had said but _how_ she had said it. Emma had accused her of being jealous that night but that was meant more as a little jab than a serious question. But now that Emma thought about it ...

"I think the delivery actually made things worse," Emma muttered, interrupting whatever Ruby was saying. Not that she had been listening anyway.

"How can coffee make things worse with Regina? That woman _loves_ my coffee so much, she'd marry it if she could." Ruby sounded completely bewildered. "And what do you mean by _worse_? What _is_ going on with you two anyway?"

Emma met Ruby's eyes, which were serious and genuinely interested despite the rushed slew of questions. "I'm really not sure." _And even if I were, I wouldn't tell you. I'm sure Regina knows about 134 ways to kill me without anyone ever finding out. _"But could you maybe dial down on the flirting in the future?"

Ruby laughed out loud. "With you or with Regina?" she asked, a knowing look in her eyes. "That's it, isn't it? Regina thinks there's something going on between you and me because she saw us flirting and then I broke one of my cardinal rules for you …"

Emma nodded miserably.

"Emma, listen to me," Ruby urged, a small smile playing around her lips. "No matter what you think right now, this is a good thing."

"How on earth can it be a good thing?" Emma asked. "She's not even talking to me apart from the absolute minimum she has to for work."

"It's a good thing because now you _know_ she likes you," Ruby pointed out. "Just in case you weren't sure before."

Emma blushed as she remembered just how _much_ Regina had liked her that first night when she hadn't known who Emma was, and how they had expressed that mutual attraction again and again.

And again.

Ruby chuckled. "Okay, the look on your face says you knew damn well that she wants you. So why don't you do something about it?"

"I'm trying, Ruby. I'm trying."

Ruby sat up and fixed Emma with a stare. "Do or do not," she intoned in a strangled voice. "There is no try."

Emma came very close to tossing the rest of her coffee at the waitress, but couldn't bring herself to waste it. The expression on her face must have been very clear, however, as Ruby got up and left her table with an amused chuckle and a pat on Emma's shoulder.

But only after refilling Emma's coffee.

—*—*—

"Why are we doing this again?" H.G. asked tiredly, barely managing to keep her eyes on the road.

Myka chuckled and handed Helena her the almost-empty travel mug as they rolled to a stop at a traffic light. "Because I wanted another weekend away from the city and you were kind enough to indulge me?"

H.G. finished her coffee before shooting Myka a grin. "Let me rephrase that question, darling. Why are we doing it _at this hour_?"

"It's not that early," Myka replied around a laugh. "And _you_ wanted to beat the afternoon traffic."

Helena groaned but didn't say anything else as she pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. "There's Emma," she pointed out as if Myka couldn't see her herself. "How bad of an idea is this whole setup?"

"Potentially brilliant," Myka sighed. "Also, potentially devastating."

"I just … I just want Regina to be happy," H.G. murmured. "And this … _thing_ with Emma could be exactly what she needs to achieve that." Her hands curled tighter around the steering wheel of her Range Rover. "After all the bloody bullshit that's happened in her life, she deserves to be happy."

"More than anyone," Myka agreed with a small sigh. "But she's just as stubborn as you are, and I really hope she doesn't take this the wrong way."

H.G. shot her a sardonic look. "May I remind you that this was your idea?"

Myka shrugged. "Well, maybe I thought it was time we _both_ lived a little dangerously."

"Too bad I forgot to bring my vest and gun …" H.G. stopped the car and Myka called Emma over. "But if Regina asks, I'll throw you to the wolves," she added with a laugh.

"Hey, you two, " Emma greeted as she reached the car, now far more awake after several coffees. However, she still held tightly onto a cardboard tray that held three more large _cubanos_. "Man, you look about as tired as I feel." She threw her duffel bag into the back seat, then climbed in after it and immediately shoved the coffee tray through the gap between the front seats. "Here, this should help."

"Oh, marvelous." H.G. beamed and immediately replaced her empty travel mug with the fresh coffee. "Much appreciated, Emma."

"I _do_ recognize fellow caffeine addicts when I see them," Emma replied with a smile. "So, where exactly are we going?"

"The cabin is on one of the smaller Keys 20 miles or so south of Key Largo," Myka explained. "It's pretty secluded, a little piece of paradise. Very hard to find unless you know it's there."

"Sounds great," Emma said. "I can't wait. After this week, I think a weekend away from the hospital and from Regina's attitude is exactly what I need."

Emma missed the way Myka and Helena flinched at her words and focused on their coffees instead of acknowledging her words. "Well, then," H.G. finally said, after clearing her throat. "Shall we?"

"Absolutely," Emma said with a smile, attributing Myka's and Helena's sudden tense silence to lack of caffeine, but then she caught a look between them and wondered if there was something else going on between them. _Let's hope I didn't drop right into the middle of a fight ... that would make for an awkward weekend._ She was just about to suggest they forget about the trip when H.G. started the car and Myka turned around to face her.

"We just have to make one more stop before we hit the road," Myka mentioned casually while H.G. eased into the noon traffic.

"Indeed," H.G. agreed. "We're going to need more alcohol."

"Oh." Emma looked up and raised an eyebrow, now really wondering what the hell she was missing.

—*—*—

Regina's smile was bittersweet as she watched Henry get on the bus with all the other kids, some much older than him. He was already talking to a lanky girl, wide smile on his face as his tiny hands held onto his camera equipment. Regina had offered to carry the heavy bag onto the bus for him, but he had refused, making it clear in no uncertain terms that he was big enough to do it himself.

Seems her little boy was growing up fast, and she felt a wave of misery hit her when she thought about how much of his childhood she was missing. She shook herself out of it when she saw Henry looking at her from inside the bus. He had found a seat by the window and had already gotten his Canon out of his bag. The camera looked so big in his tiny hands, but he was always careful with it and loved it to pieces, which is why Regina would never regret spoiling him by buying him only the best. It wasn't like they didn't have the money to spare anyway.

Henry waved at her and raised his camera, making Regina smile in pure reflex. She saw him taking a few shots, presumably of her, so she smiled and waved back, mouthing _I love you_ to her son.

She could see that he was rolling his eyes at her, but then he paused and surreptitiously looked around. When he was sure nobody was watching him, he looked back at her and mouthed _I love you, Mom_.

Then the bus slowly rolled off the school parking lot and Regina wondered why her eyes were stinging. _Must be the early morning sun. Should have worn my sunglasses. _She briskly walked to her car, avoiding the other parents, and put on her aviators.

The drive to the marina didn't take too long at this hour and as soon as Regina set foot on her boat she felt the tension in her shoulders ease and a smile bloom on her face. She loved the water, being on it, being in it, the smell, the sound, everything about it. She climbed the few steps down into the main cabin to change, then readied the boat with practiced ease. Not twenty minutes later, she was slowly steering the _Rocinante_ through Government Cut and towards the open sea, wondering what the weekend would bring.

She remembered the early morning talk with Rosa that she hadn't been able to escape. The knowing eyes of the woman who had mostly raised her had bored into her, and soon enough Regina had found herself telling Rosa everything about Emma Swan.

Well, almost everything. There were some details nobody but them needed to know.

Parts of the conversation still stung, even hours later, but Regina didn't regret hearing them, knowing that sometimes Rosa's words provided a new perspective when her own thoughts were entirely too … unidirectional.

_Rosa looked at her for a long moment after she had finished, long enough for Regina to feel uncomfortable under her stare. If there was one thing she hated, it was disappointing this woman, and Rosa looked _a lot_ like she was unhappy with her._

"_I am disappointed," Rosa said, and Regina's heart dropped. There it was._

"_I'm sorry," she muttered, feeling like a teenager again, caught sneaking out for a party. "I know I shouldn't have done it," she added. "That's why I stopped it."_

_Rosa shook her head but there was a small smile playing around her lips which Regina didn't notice. "Oh, my beautiful girl," she tutted. "That's not why I'm disappointed."_

"_You're not?"_

"_No, I'm disappointed because estás siendo estúpida," Rosa had declared, speaking even more bluntly than she usually did._

"_Wha— Why?" Regina was surprised. _Irresponsible_ she'd get, but _stupid_?_

"_Did you know that your voice changes when you speak her name?" Rosa asked softly. "When you speak of her?"_

_Regina shook her head. "I don't think so," she scoffed._

_Rosa sighed. "Hija mía … when you speak of her, your voice is soft and mellow like when you're talking about Henry," she explained gently. "And there is a touch of molasses too, dark and … what is the word … gooey."_

"_Gooey?" Regina chuckled uncomfortably. "I think you're hearing things, Rosa," she dismissed the thought. "Besides, how does that make me stupid?"_

_Rosa's smile turned sad. "You are stupid because you're risking something other people have to fight long and hard for." It was the voice of experience and Regina recognized it as such. "You are stupid because you're running away from someone who could make your life beautiful."_

_Regina blinked a few times to get the stinging feeling from her eyes. "My life _is_ beautiful," she insisted. "I have Henry and you and daddy, and my work and my friends …"_

"_And we all love you, but we can't fill that void in your heart," Rosa replied, pressing her right hand against Regina's chest. "Not completely, not that part that only awakens for that special someone."_

_Regina sighed. "It's too complicated." However, she didn't deny that Rosa was right._

_Rosa laughed. "You are talking to _me_ about love being complicated?" She took Regina's hand in hers. "As if I don't know? Look at me and tell me I don't know _complicated_."_

_Regina stared at their joined hands, but words failed her. Rosa was right, there were love stories that were so much more complicated. "But Emma and I … we're not … I'm not … I _can't_ be in love with her. I hardly even _know_ her."_

_Rosa's eyes studied her for a long moment. "Are you sure about that, corazón? Because your voice tells another story." She got up and busied herself around the kitchen to give Regina some space. "As for not knowing her …," she couldn't help continue after a moment. "You can always change that. Of course that would mean you'd have to stop running away from her for five minutes …"_

Regina gripped the wheel tighter as she opened the throttle and increased the boat's speed until the wind blew her hair all around her face and cleared her head.

She had a lot to think about.

—*—*—

Emma wasn't sure what she had expected but it sure as hell wasn't _this_. "Didn't you say something about a _cabin_?" she asked Myka when the log structure by the waterfront came into view. "I imagined something a little … smaller."

Myka and H.G. both chuckled. "Well, let's just say it's not your run-of-the-mill one-room cabana," Myka said around a smile. "It's not that huge, but it's very comfortable and has a few nice amenities."

Emma whistled softly. "No wonder you spent your vacation here." She got out of the car as soon as it stopped and looked around curiously. "Thanks for taking me out here this weekend."

"No problem," Myka said. "Come on, let's go inside."

The door to the cabin opened to a large main room with an open kitchen. One wall had two huge windows that allowed a nice view of the cove and the small beach area. On one side Emma could see a small group of palm trees and on the other side a narrow pier extended far into the water. She was so immersed in the view that she didn't even notice Myka coming up behind her. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Emma nodded. "Very," she agreed. "So ... relaxing. I haven't even been here ten minutes, and I can already feel the stress flowing right out of me." She turned to face Myka. "Thank you again."

Myka only grinned and held up a large duffel bag with one hand. "It's going to get even better," she hinted mischievously. "Come with me."

Emma found Myka's grin contagious and returned it easily as she followed the other woman out the door. On the porch, they ran into H.G. who was busy carrying their bags inside. Myka pressed a kiss to her cheek and hefted the big bag as if that explained what they were up to. H.G. laughed and disappeared inside the cabin.

"Isn't Helena coming?" Emma asked.

"She'll be outside in a second," Myka replied with a shrug. "She wants to make a phone call first."

—*—*—

"Hey," H.G. said when her call was answered after the third ring. "I was afraid I wouldn't reach you. Where are you?"

Regina grinned into her board phone. "I decided to take the long way down," she laughed, "but now I'm anchored off Biscayne Bay, so I could take a long nap and go for a swim."

"Swimming only, I hope," H.G. warned. "I'm in no mood to have to drag you out of the water today because you went for a solo dive. Again."

The silence at the other end of the line was telling. "Regina," H.G. groaned. "You promised not to do that. It's too bloody dangerous."

Regina sighed. "I've been doing it for as long as I can remember, Helena," she replied with not a small amount of exasperation. "I only went down for ten minutes anyway, so don't you dare nag me when I see you later."

H.G. shook her head, letting it go. "Any idea when you'll be down here?"

Regina checked her diving watch. "It's so nice out on the water today and I'm sure you won't mind having a day with Myka alone," she thought aloud. "I thought I'd be there in time for dinner … about six or seven maybe."

"Great!" H.G. wondered if she should warn Regina about Emma, but she didn't want to take the risk of Regina going straight back to Miami. "We can fire up the grill then … well, Myka can."

Regina laughed and ended the call.

H.G. tapped her phone against her chin thoughtfully as she stared out the window at Emma and Myka. _Please don't hate me for this, old friend._

—*—*—

The bag, Emma realized once Myka opened it by the group of palm trees, held two large hammocks that they quickly attached to the hooks provided for that purpose in the palm trees.

Emma sighed deeply as she stretched out in one of them, eyes resting on the sea. Suddenly she squinted and tried to look a little closer. There it was again, the splash and the fin she thought she'd seen. "Myka," she whispered, although she didn't know why. "Is that …?"

Myka sat up a little in her hammock and followed Emma's line of sight. "Yep," she grinned. "Dolphin. We call him Trailer … he lives around here and we always joke that he keeps an eye on the place. Wanna go swim with him?"

Emma's jaw dropped. "You can swim with dolphins here?"

Myka smiled at the wide-eyed look of joyful expectation on Emma's face. "Well, I don't know about dolphins in general, but Trailer's always up for a nice swim around the cove."

"Damn," Emma breathed. "This is as close to paradise as I've ever seen. All that's missing is—" She stopped herself before she revealed too much. _And why was she thinking of Regina again anyway? Now, here? When she had wanted to be away from her for the weekend?_

Myka watched Emma surreptitiously, not needing to think too hard to fill in the gaps of what or better who was missing according to Emma. _Maybe this won't be so bad after all. First things first, though. _"Let's get in the water, Swan!"

And when Emma pulled off her t-shirt and knee-length cargo shorts to reveal a toned body in a black sports bikini, Myka silently congratulated Regina on her self-control. How could she resist Emma after having not only seen but touched _that _body?

—*—*—

Regina swam lazily back to her boat after another short and shallow late-afternoon dive that she wouldn't be telling H.G. and Myka about. Pennecamp State Park offered so much for even a casual dive that she often went there when she wanted to be underwater but not risk a long dive without a partner. She climbed up the ladder and grabbed a towel.

Now that diving wasn't requiring her attention, Rosa's words came back loud and clear, poking at her, prodding her to think about them. Trying to stall for just a little bit longer, she grabbed an energy bar and a bottle of water from the galley, then went to sit down at the bow of the boat, back against the cabin.

She tried to analyze her feelings and anxieties like she would a patient in her trauma unit, separating major issues from minor ones, figuring out how to save the patient. She knew she had never been as attracted to somebody as quickly as she had been to Emma, had never even thought it was possible to feel this connected to somebody after a couple of hours in a bar. She remembered waking up that morning with the bitter taste of disappointment on her tongue at finding herself alone, which told her more about her feelings for Emma than anything else. And then, of course, there was the comment Rosa had made about her voice and what it supposedly revealed.

Regina knew that Emma had been right: if work weren't an issue, she would date her in a heartbeat, hoping they could build something from their one night together. That thought gave Regina pause. If she could honestly say she'd love to go out with Emma if she were anything but a doctor on her team, then how much of an issue should her job really be?

How much of an _excuse_ should she allow it to be? Well, apart from possibly getting fired for sleeping with someone on her team, not that _that_ didn't happen all over every hospital she had ever seen from the inside. Still, she held herself to a higher standard than that. The question was, in the end, if she should let her principles stand in the way of her happiness.

Regina's sigh was lost in the wind that was picking up now. All of her decisions were moot anyway if Emma had changed her mind and decided that Ruby would be the much better option. Less trouble, less baggage.

An endless stream of really good coffee.

Regina bit her bottom lip as her heart gave a slight twinge, unaware that only a few nautical miles away, Emma was equally busy thinking about _her_.

—*—*—

H.G. nudged Myka lightly with her shoulder. "What do you think she's thinking about?"

Myka followed H.G. gaze as she snuggled into her side. Emma was in one of the hammocks, her eyes fixed on the horizon, but Myka was quite certain she wasn't really seeing anything. "With that look on her face? Regina."

H.G. chuckled. "Definitely." She turned Myka away from the window and kissed her softly, but thoroughly. "We're focusing too much on our friends' love live, and too little on our own," she mentioned between teasing kisses before deepening the contact again.

Myka pressed herself against her wife's body, moaning a little when H.G.'s tongue traced the sensitive spot on the inside of her upper lip. "Tease," she whispered. "We don't have time."

H.G. sighed but kept a close hold on Myka. "I know, darling, I know." She pressed her lips against Myka's forehead. "Tonight."

"Really?" Myka asked, eyebrow raised. "With Emma right next door?"

"I think the lovely Doctor Swan should sleep on Regina's boat tonight," H.G. stated. "I don't want you to hold back when I make love to you."

"As if I'm the only one who can get loud," Myka teased, knowing full well that she was indeed the louder of the two. "And how do you think we'll get Regina to let Emma on board?"

"That's where the tequila comes in," H.G. said around a smirk. "I suggest we play some games tonight … games that might get them to reveal some things and allow them to get to know each other better."

"Are you really suggesting we play drinking games?"

"Oh, I think drinking should definitely be a part of it," H.G. replied with a mysterious smile. "Just play along when the time comes."

"I will," Myka promised. "But if either of them tosses us to the sharks, I'm going to blame—"

Myka never got to finish her thought. Returning H.G.'s fierce kiss was so much more important anyway.

"I thought we didn't have time," Myka gasped against H.G.'s lips when the kiss got more and more heated.

"We make time," H.G. purred, moving her mouth to Myka's neck, aiming for the spot that drove her wife wild. "There's always time for a quickie, darling."

"It's never a quickie with us, though." Myka moaned when H.G. found the spot she had been looking for. "I love when you do that," she breathed, leaning her head to the side to offer more of her neck to H.G., which her wife rewarded by nipping softly with her teeth, not caring if she left a mark.

"Bedroom," Myka groaned. "Now." She began moving in the direction of their room, never letting their bodies part more than an inch or two. Her eyes were fixed on her goal, and the second they stumbled through the door and threw it shut, her eyes closed with a blissful moan.

H.G. maneuvered them towards the bed and onto it, rolling and scrambling until they were both securely on its surface. She wasted no time removing Myka's thin t-shirt, and the bikini top she wore underneath followed quickly.

Myka worked feverishly on her wife's clothes at the same time. The vest was easy enough to remove but the buttons on her shirt proved difficult for fingers that were trembling with excitement. She was close to just ripping it open when the last button finally gave, allowing her to push the shirt off her shoulders, trapping Helena's arms in the process.

Myka grinned evilly at the offered opportunity and pushed H.G. onto her back. "Now I've got you," she growled softly, running her hands all over H.G.'s torso, as always paying homage to the scars, some old, some new.

Helena chuckled breathlessly. "And what are planning to do with me, now that you have me lying before you, utterly defenseless?"

"Defenseless, right," Myka snorted. "If you wanted, you could krav maga me clear across the room before I could even blink." She leaned down to lick a trail from H.G.'s belly button to her clavicle. "But since you're offering yourself up so very nicely, I think I'm going to … devour you."

H.G. groaned at the words and her hips pushed up without a conscious thought. "Please, darling."

"But you have to be quiet," Myka reminded teasingly. "Emma is out there somewhere."

Helena didn't care one bit about what Emma would or wouldn't hear, but she nodded nonetheless. "Don't tease, darling," she pleaded.

"Don't worry," Myka promised. "Not right now … but I can't promise anything for tonight."

She removed H.G.'s pants and panties without much fanfare, then settled between her legs and pressed kisses up each thigh to where H.G. needed her to be.

"Tease … ooh." H.G. groaned as Myka's tongue finally made contact with her center, softly licking up and down, flicking against her entrance again and again but with no discernible rhythm, just doing what she felt like.

It was driving H.G. insane. "So good," she moaned, one hand flying to the back of Myka's head to keep her in place, but not pushing her no matter how much she wanted to. Myka began kissing her core like she normally did her mouth, all rhythmic movements of lips and tongue and the occasional gentle nip. H.G. felt herself climb higher and higher, but she needed more. "Darling, please … please …"

Myka breathed against her wife's core, the sensation making H.G. twitch and her hips cant up. Her tongue traced upwards until her lips could close around H.G.'s clit where she sucked gently one moment, then flicked her tongue rapidly against the nub the next. H.G.'s grip in her hair tightened to an almost painful degree as she got closer to her climax.

When Myka felt H.G. tense, heard her breath changing cadence, she took her clitoris in her mouth and sucked while pushing two fingers into her, feeling them gripped hard immediately by clenching muscles. She pushed her fingers in hard, once, twice, flicking the clit with the tip of her tongue, until she felt H.G.'s whole body clench and come with a shout that was abruptly muffled when H.G. pulled a pillow over her own face.

Myka slowed her fingers and ran the flat of her tongue soothingly along her wife's center to gently guide her down from her high. Her own center throbbed, wet and swollen, aching to be touched, and she pressed it into the bedspread to get some friction against the seam of her shorts.

"My God, Myka," H.G. rasped when her breath had slowed down to a more normal pace. "That was wonderful." She tensed her hand in Myka's hair and guided her upwards, needing to kiss her now. "I love you," she mumbled against her wife's lips, enjoying her own taste on Myka's lips. After a few minutes of lazy kissing, she pushed Myka onto her back, then leaned over her with a wide grin. "My turn now."

Myka groaned as she felt her core throb harder at those words. "Please, Helena," she groaned, trying to push H.G. where she needed her. "I need you … please … I need your mouth on me."

"Gladly."

—*—*—

Emma tried to focus on her book but her thoughts went to Regina again and again. She shook her head with a smile as she started to swing the hammock from side to side. Maybe it was a good idea that it was dinner time soon, or at least that's what Myka had hollered from the doorway of the cabin a minute ago.

At least now Emma knew that it was safe to go back inside the cabin. The last time she had tried she had walked in on Myka and H.G. kissing passionately, so wrapped up in each other that they never even realized that Emma had been there. She had walked back out as quickly and as quietly as she could and had resigned herself to an afternoon of reading by herself but had been unable to focus on her book. Instead of the words on the page she saw Regina's smile and when she closed her eyes she more than just her smile in her mind's eye. The muffled sounds coming from the cabin definitely hadn't helped either.

Her eyes strayed from the page once more to watch the ocean, surprised when there was a new sight catching her attention. _Was that a yacht in the distance?_ She kept watching the large boat as it came closer and closer, wondering who would know about this place apart from them. Then she figured that the cabin was probably rented for the weekend and that the owner might come to check that everything was okay.

She thought about letting Myka and H.G. know but couldn't bring herself to move. Instead she sank deeper into hammock and curiously watched the boat as it docked. A slight figure in what looked like a half wetsuit climbed down onto the pier carrying a small bag.

When the figure turned around, Emma's heart skipped a beat. Even from this distance there was no mistaking Regina Mills, even with disheveled hair and barefoot.

She watched as Regina walked towards the cabin, not once looking left or right, and disappeared inside. Emma struggled out of the hammock to follow her, too curious to see what she was doing here to wonder about why on earth she had arrived on a 50-foot yacht.


	5. Episode 3, Part 2 - Truth or Tequila

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. I just borrowed them to show them a good time.**

**A/N: OK, so it looks like I might have lied when I said I split episode 3 into two parts ... it now looks like it's going to be three. It's the episode that refuses to end apparently. That unfortunately means that those among you who are also waiting for an update of _Hide and Seek_ will have to wait a little while longer, and I apologize for that. Right now there's only time for updates to one story (why do we have to work for a living? why?), and _Trauma Team_ occupies my thoughts a little bit more these days.**

**Anyway, there's lots of talking, some awkwardness, alcohol, and stupid games. And the final part of the episode should be up soon. Ish.**

**A/N 2: Thank you for all your comments, reviews, faves, and follows; they're very much appreciated. I always like to hear what you think.**

* * *

**Episode 3 – Part 2: Truth or Tequila**

"Hey, Regina," Myka said cheerfully, hair still wet from the shower she had just taken after her spontaneous romp with her wife. She craned her head to see if Emma was behind their boss.

"Hello, Myka." Regina saw the wet hair and the flush on Myka's fair skin, and smirked. "Enjoying yourself and the cabin?" she drawled. "And Helena, I presume?"

When Myka didn't immediately reply and kept looking over Regina's shoulder, she turned around but there was nobody there. "Am I missing something?" she wanted to know.

"Nah, nothing," Myka lied. "Good to see you. I was just getting started on dinner."

Regina shrugged away the strange feeling Myka's behavior had caused. _Maybe she and Helena had had a fight and Helena had stormed off?_ "Where's your wife?"

"Oh, she's finishing up in the bathroom." Myka pointed in the direction of the bedroom she and her wife had chosen. "You know how she is with her hair …"

"All right." Regina held up her back and pointed at the wetsuit she was wearing. "I'll use the other room to shower and change then."

She walked into the second bedroom but stopped in her tracks when she saw an open duffel bag sitting in the middle of the bed, some items strewn haphazardly half in and half out. "Myka," she called out without turning around, still staring at the unfamiliar bag. "Is this one of your bags?"

"No, it's mine," a very familiar, yet entirely unexpected voice said quietly from the doorway.

Regina whirled around. "Doctor Swan," she gasped. "What are you doing here?"

Emma held up her hands in an almost defensive position. "Hi, Regina," she said as calmly as she could with the way her heart was racing in her chest. "Before you start yelling at me … I really had no idea," she tried to explain. "I was just as surprised to see you as you are to see me. I just don't know if it's a good surprise or a bad surprise yet …"

"Neither do I," Regina sighed into the middle of Emma's nervous rambling, which she found annoyingly adorable. "Myka?" she drawled, arms crossed in front of her chest. "Care to explain this?"

Emma walked further into room to allow Myka's nervous face around the doorjamb, followed by H.G.'s determined one. "We thought … well, we figured a weekend away from the hospital would allow you to get to know each other better."

"And since you clearly wouldn't just go away together, we decided to … let's just say, we thought you needed some help with that," H.G. added calmly. "Frankly, working with you two this past week was both amazing and absolutely, staggeringly annoying."

Regina raised an eyebrow at the blunt comments. "Doctor Swan and I were nothing but professional this past week despite the rather difficult situation."

H.G. snorted. "Regina, you know I love you, but it's not professional to avoid a new member of your team at all costs, especially if it's a resident who is supposed to learn from you, on top of saving lives."

Regina took a breath to hold in the sharp response sitting at the tip of her tongue. She knew Helena had a point, but she wasn't going to admit that. "You're a fellow," she pointed out, managing not to sound defensive. "That's why I paired her with you."

"And I like working with Emma," H.G. replied, "but that's not the point."

"You two need to talk," Myka added. "You need to get to know each other … need to learn to be around each other, and you're going to start this weekend."

"So that's what all that alcohol is for," Emma remarked with a small grin, not completely averse to the idea of getting drunk together and trying to get behind Regina's sky-high defenses.

Regina shot her a look before focusing back on Myka and H.G. "So … what? You're going to get us drunk and then we're going to braid our hair and share our innermost thoughts?" she scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not sure this is such a good idea," Emma ventured after seeing Regina's reaction. "Look, I'm the obvious outsider here, so why don't we have a nice, civilized dinner and then I call a cab or something and go home."

"Not going to happen," Myka dismissed the gesture. "We invited you down here, and you're staying."

"You invited her to _my_ cabin," Regina remarked mildly. "Shouldn't _I_ be the one to decide who stays and who goes?"

"This is _your_ cabin?" Emma gasped before turning accusing eyes on Myka and H.G. who shrugged, looking completely unconcerned.

"Feel free to send Emma back to Miami," H.G. said, still incredibly calm and collected. She had years of experience in dealing with Regina and her defensive strategies. "Myka and I will take her back in our car, and you can enjoy your weekend down here. Alone."

It was a low blow, no matter how mildly it was phrased and, judging by the apologetic look that entered her eyes almost immediately, H.G. knew it. With Henry away for the weekend, Regina wasn't just alone, she was _lonely_, and no amount of pleasure on the water or a stay at the cabin for a whole weekend would change that. If the three of them left, H.G. knew Regina wouldn't stay either. She'd probably just go home to do some paperwork.

Regina gave H.G. a dirty look that revealed the war raging inside her, until she finally sighed, resigning herself to the situation. "Well, I promised you two a weekend at the cabin, and a weekend you shall get," she muttered darkly. "Or at least one night ... I won't guarantee more than that." With that she disappeared in the bathroom and started the water for her shower, while the other three retreated back into the main room.

"How mad is she really?" Emma asked H.G. who looked deep in thought.

"Quite a bit," H.G. admitted. "But her problem is with me now, not you."

"Because of what you said?" Emma was confused because it really hadn't sounded bad at all, but Regina had flinched as if she has been slapped. "About you going back with me?"

H.G. nodded and swallowed, another sign that she wasn't nearly as calm as she pretended to be about pushing Regina this far. Myka wrapped an arm around her wife's waist and patted her flat stomach with her free hand. "It's a long story, but yeah, Helena just poked at an already very sore spot."

Emma felt lost again, which wasn't at all unusual around these people she spent so much time with these days. She decided to change the subject, given that she had no idea how to navigate any potential mine fields without expert help. _Maybe she should call the UNO and ask for a mine detector._ "You really couldn't have told me this was Regina's place?" she asked plaintively. "Not even once we were down here and I had no means of escape?"

"Does it really matter? Do you really mind being here with her and us?" Myka asked, genuinely concerned. "I got a little worried when you complained about Regina's attitude on the way down here, but seriously … do you really mind spending time in her presence? Because I don't think you do."

Emma shook her head. "As long as she doesn't blame me for this … not really, no," she admitted. "I know I said I needed some time away from her but now that she's here ... I'm pretty happy to see her, even if it's a little awkward." She ran her hand through her hair, making a mental note to take a shower before dinner and get the salt water out. _Too bad I can't just join Regina … _"Here's the thing, I never made it a secret that I want to get to know her better, and whatever you two have in mind might help, so I'm game ... but, you know ... be nice to Regina, okay? I don't want to see her hurt just because you felt the need to meddle in our lives."

Myka hummed under her breath as she turned back to their dinner preparations, smiling softly to herself. But inside she was praying to any deity within hearing distance that this weekend wouldn't ruin everything.

For all of them.

—*—*—

Dinner was relatively silent, and about as unpleasant as Myka had feared with attempts at conversation barely going beyond hospital talk and compliments on the perfectly grilled salmon that Myka had conjured up for them.

When the last plate was cleared, Emma quickly volunteered to do the dishes to escape the table and was soon joined, utterly surprisingly, by Regina.

"Not a word," her boss muttered too low for anyone else to hear. "Right now I'm just slightly less mad at you than them."

Emma nodded. "Can I ask why you're mad at me at all?" She tried to look into Regina's eyes to gauge her mood, but the other woman focused on drying the dishes. "I really had no idea this was your cabin, or that you would be here," she explained once more in a whisper. "I'm sorry this was such a horrible surprise for you."

"I know," Regina replied softly. Then she was quiet for so long that Emma began to suspect she wouldn't get an answer, before murmuring something inaudible.

"What was that?" Emma asked, leaning closer, but not too close, fully aware of Regina's boundaries and Myka's and H.G.'s eyes on them.

"I said I'm mad at you because you complicate my life," Regina repeated evenly. "And I really like my life simple. I can't have chaos at work _and_ in my life."

"I can understand that." Emma handed Regina the next plate. "Up to a certain degree, I guess." She shook her head. "It was never my intention to make your life more stressful than it already is but … I can't help it. I really like you."

Regina decided not to ask if _like_ was all it was because she wasn't ready for the answer she thought she could sometimes see in Emma's eyes. When she wasn't flirting with Ruby, that was. "If you _like_ me and don't want me to be stressed, why are you …" She stopped herself from asking about Ruby. "Forget it, it doesn't matter."

Just then, Regina's phone rang and she dug it out of the khaki shorts she had changed into. When she saw who it was, her whole face lit up with a brilliant smile. "Henry, my darling," she greeted the caller, causing Emma's eyebrows to jump up to her hairline. "How is your weekend, dear?" A pause as the person on the other end spoke and Regina swiftly walked into the bedroom she had used to shower. "I wish you were here at the cabin with me, but—"

The door closed behind Regina, cutting off whatever she was saying, leaving Emma to stare after her, wondering who the hell this Henry guy was. Was he the reason that she was making Regina's life more complicated? Was she in a relationship? Nah, Myka or Helena would have told her, that much she knew in her gut. A fuck buddy then? Someone even her friends didn't know about? That didn't sound like Regina either, but then again she hardly knew the woman. But with the way her face lit up and her voice went all soft, it really didn't sound like a simple friend with benefits … it screamed _feelings_. Emma took a calming breath in an attempt to stave off the swirling tendrils of jealousy that were twisting her insides, but it didn't help much.

Emma was just about to ask Myka and Helena who the fuck this Henry was when the bedroom door opened and Regina returned, a radiant smile on her face that looked only slightly tinged with what looked like melancholy. _Fuck, she even really seems to miss that guy. _

Emma decided to swallow her questions and doubts and just continue their conversation, but the rest of the dishes went ignored. If Regina's life was made so complicated by her … and possibly this _Henry_, maybe she should do what she had sworn not to do and cut her losses. She took a moment to study Regina's face, then just went for a blunt, "Would you like me to leave Miami Trauma? Is that what it would take to make your life easier? For me to disappear from it?" She'd have to find another resident somewhere willing to switch with her at the drop of a hat since returning to Seattle was out of the question as long as her stalker was still there.

Regina bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from blurting out her immediate reaction. _Easier yes, but also far less … invigorating and interesting._ She hadn't felt this alive in years, but that wasn't something to share with Emma, at least not yet.

Regina gave the question some serious thought, sensing that Emma was at a point where she might actually leave if she asked her to. Finally, she shook her head, to her own as well as Emma's surprise. "I don't want you to leave," she whispered, sounding a little pained, either by the thought or by having to admit it. "You're a good surgeon, Doctor Swan, and you could have a bright future in trauma. I can't in good conscience ruin that for you nor can I deprive the team or the hospital of an asset." She paused. "Besides, someone with your potential should learn from the best," she added after a moment. "And I'm just vain enough to think that's me."

Emma's eyes widened as she realized the implications of what Regina had just said. "Does that mean you're going to stop ignoring me? I get to actually work with you? At least sometimes?" she asked, hope shining from her eyes. "Because I would really, really like to learn from the youngest trauma chief in the country. I heard she's pretty damn awesome."

Emma gave Regina a wide grin and waggled her eyebrows so comically that Regina didn't have it in her heart not to return a small smile of her own.

It was a start.

—*—*—

Emma took one look at the two bottles of tequila on the table and chuckled. "Are you trying to get us wasted for some reason?"

H.G. smiled. "That depends entirely on you, Swan," she replied. "Play nice and be honest, and you won't have to drink … much. Flout the rules and … well …" At Emma's doubtful look, she added, "Don't worry, we'll carry your sorry behind to a bed should you be completely incapacitated later."

Everyone laughed in a way that told Emma that something like that probably had happened before, and she wondered if this was some kind of initiation rite. "Does every new team member have to go through this?"

H.G. chuckled as she sat down at the table. "You make it sound as if it's a chore to spend time with us."

"Eh," Emma said, waggling her hand. "Maybe I'm just waiting to be honeyed and feathered and put out into some hallway for all the world to see."

The other three stared at her. "Jesus, what kind of college did you go to?" Helena finally breathed.

Emma didn't have it in her heart to tell them that this had happened in one of the group homes she had stayed in. "So you don't invite every newbie down here to get them drunk and—"

Myka quickly shook her head. "No, you're the first person we want to get to know enough to do this."

Regina nodded, just a little reluctantly, not sure why she felt the need to explain further and make Emma feel better. "You're the first person outside the three of us who has ever been down here, or who knows that I have this cabin down here. Well, Pete also knows, but he's never been here with us. He likes to come down here alone."

"How come you have this amazing place anyway? Not to mention that boat out there?" Emma asked, but her tone made it clear that she was curious more than prying.

"Birthday presents," Regina replied with a shrug. "My father is a very generous man."

"Nice presents." Emma smiled, no judgement in her voice, although inside she wondered who exactly her boss was. Or better, who her father was. From what she had seen of Regina so far she never would have expected her to be someone who grew up with a silver spoon. "The best present _I_ ever got was a stuffed dog that still had two of its legs attached to it." _Shut up, Swan. There you go again with your maudlin comments. What's up with that today? _

The three others stared at her, so Emma did what she always did and tried to shift the attention back on someone else. "So your family has money, eh?"

Myka saw how uncomfortable Emma was getting and decided to help her out. "Say, do you drink orange juice in the morning, Emma?"

Emma wondered at the non sequitur, but nodded. "Doesn't everybody?"

"What brand?" H.G. added with a smile.

Emma narrowed her eyes. "Whatever's available usually." She shrugged. "I even bought that overpriced Mills Organic Orchard stuff the other day …" She trailed off as she saw Myka and Helena grinning, and her brain rapidly connected the dots. "Mills? That's _you_?"

Regina nodded with a slight eye roll. She hated being asked about the family business but she also knew Emma would have found out sooner or later anyway. "My father, yes."

Emma could see that Regina was uncomfortable and searched her brain for something she could say. "Hey, I read in the paper that your family has this charity for underprivileged kids?"

Regina held her breath, waiting to hear what other things about her family Emma might have stumbled upon in the press, but when she remained quiet, Regina relaxed and exhaled slowly. "Like I said, my father is a generous man," she muttered with a shrug, and everyone recognized the end of that topic for now.

"Are we going to play now?" Myka asked into the silence.

"Absolutely! It's time for Truth or Tequila," H.G. beamed.

Regina groaned loudly. "I should have known you'd resort to that," she grumbled. "You love playing that juvenile game. How often do I need to remind you that we're not teenagers anymore?"

"Until it sinks in, I presume," H.G. replied unrepentantly. "Hasn't happened yet."

"Truth or Tequila? As in Truth or Dare? Are you serious right now?" Emma asked suspiciously. "I haven't played that since freshman year in med school." She bit her bottom lip as she thought about the things that might come out during a game like that. "Isn't that game a little unfair on me, though? You three have known each other for ages," Emma complained. "I'm totally at a disadvantage here."

To her surprise, Regina chuckled. "Believe me, I'm really not a fan of this, and I'm only playing along to appease my troublemaking friend over there but … the fact that we hardly know anything about you actually makes this pretty safe for you."

"We all know the others' weak spots, Swan," H.G. added, "and we're not known for pulling our punches." That much had been proven during the earlier argument between Helena and Regina.

Emma swallowed as she met Regina's eyes, trying hard not to think about the fact that her comment about birthday presents and hazings might have opened up a big weak spot of hers, too. "I guess we have to do this then?" she asked with a sigh.

"I guess so." Regina turned to Myka. "Start cutting the fruit, Myka. I think we should start this off with a drink."

While Myka started slicing limes and oranges and Regina picked a seat at the table, Emma turned to H.G. "So, you mentioned rules?"

H.G. finished filling a bowl with salt and a bowl with cinnamon and placed both of them in the center of the table before adding two bottles of tequila, — one clear, one a lovely golden shade — next to them. "Well, it_ is_ Truth or Dare," she said, lining up shot glasses, two for each of them, before looking up at Emma. "However, we mostly play for truths because there's only so many interesting dares that you can come up with."

Emma shrugged as she sat in the last remaining chair, across from Regina. "Why not just play 20 questions then?"

"Because while we might have a preference for going with the truth, you _can_ choose to do a dare if you don't want to answer a question, but it'll cost you," Myka added, pointing at the bottles on the table.

"If you switch to dare after hearing your question, you have to down a shot _and_ do a dare," H.G. continued. "And dares can't be refused, no matter what."

"Sounds fair enough," Emma said with a grin.

"Great!" Myka took the remaining seat and grinned at all of them in turn. "So, Emma, salt or cinnamon?"

Emma stared at her for a moment. "Er … cinnamon?"

Regina smirked. "Is that a question or your choice?"

"Who on earth has cinnamon with their tequila?"

H.G. and Myka raised their hands. "It's delicious," Myka replied. "Feel free to try it, but you really don't have to." Emma watched as Myka took a shot glass, licked the rim, then pressed the glass upside down into the cinnamon. The cinnamon stuck to the glass, which she then filled with the golden tequila. H.G. followed suit while Regina licked her hand and sprinkled salt on it, then filled her glass from the other bottle. Emma hesitated for a moment, then followed Regina's example, earning herself a grin from the other three.

"To the best trauma team the hospital has ever seen," H.G. toasted before licking the rim and downing her shot, before biting into an orange slice. Everyone else did the same, slamming their glasses on the table afterwards.

"So …" Myka drawled. "I guess Emma should start."

Emma thought for a moment, then turned to H.G. "Truth or dare, Helena?"

"Truth," H.G. replied quickly. "In fact, assume I'll always pick truth until I say otherwise."

Emma nodded. "How long have you known each other?" She pointed between Regina and Helena, adding Myka as an afterthought.

"Really?" Myka snorted. "You get first pick and you go with _that_?"

"We should make you take a shot just for choosing the lamest question ever," H.G. added. "Anyway, Regina and I met when we were teenagers many, many years ago …"

"It wasn't _that_ long ago," Regina muttered.

"Nineteen years, Regina. Feels like an eternity though," Helena shot back with a wink. "Our parents sent us to the same boarding school in Switzerland and the rest is history."

Regina grinned. "I'm not sure the school has recovered from us yet."

"And Myka?" Emma asked.

"We both met Myka when she started here as a resident."

Emma considered all of that. "So you and Regina are the same age?"

"It's not actually your turn anymore, Swan," H.G. chided with a grin. "But yeah, more or less. And before you ask, I took a … longish break before I went to med school, which is why Regina is now my boss, and not the other way around."

"Yes, _that's_ the reason," Regina said dryly.

"And it has nothing to do with the fact that Regina is probably the most gifted trauma surgeon anyone has seen in ages," Myka added.

H.G. pressed her hand against her chest. "Myka, darling … you wound me."

"I love you, but you know it's true." Myka blew her wife a kiss, while Regina watched all of it with a smile, quite used to the banter. Emma just shook her head with a grin, beginning to enjoy herself.

H.G. turned to Regina and received a nod before she could ask anything. "Okay … Did you really sleep with Dr. Hunter from beta team?"

"The guy I switched places with?" Emma asked, eyes wide.

Regina glared at H.G. while considering her options. Going for a dare this early on could be a bad move, and the question wasn't that bad. She looked at Emma and saw the burning question in green eyes. She sighed, choice made easily. "No, I didn't."

Emma tried not to let her relief show, knowing full well that she had no right to feel possessive, especially about someone who might or might not have been in Regina's past. She only wished the question had been about that mysterious Henry guy. Well, that was a question for later, maybe.

Regina turned to Emma. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Why did you leave Seattle?"

"And you're mocking _me_ about boring questions?" Emma scoffed but it was mostly to give herself time to think. She really didn't want to share her reasons, didn't want to get into the whole stalker issue, so she finally decided to be vague. "Personal reasons," she mumbled. "I needed a change of scenery."

"Total cop-out," Myka decided. "That calls for a drink."

"There was nothing in the rules about that," Emma said, only slightly defensively.

H.G. grinned. "You can drink or you can do a dare," she offered. "Because _that_ wasn't an answer."

Emma wordlessly prepared her drink and downed it. "My turn," she gasped through the burning feeling. Then she turned to Myka, who nodded before Emma could ask. "How good was the sex earlier?"

Myka sputtered, while H.G. and Regina looked almost proud, Emma realized. "You learn quickly, Emma," Myka breathed. "The answer is: amazing." She grinned at her wife, who blushed a little, looking almost bashful. "It always is."

"Yeah, that's what it sounded like," Emma remarked with a smirk. "I think even Trailer the dolphin noticed … I think his fin went pink when he blushed …"

Myka's face burned but she decided to ignore it. "Regina …" She waited for the nod. "When was the last time you went on a date?"

Regina studied her hands for a long moment. "Last summer," she finally said.

"Really?" Myka asked. "With whom?"

"Not part of the question, Myka," Regina said with a grin.

"Oh, come on," H.G. pleaded. "You know you're going to get the question sooner or later anyway."

Regina sighed. "I went out with a guy who moved onto my floor of our building," she explained. "He came by to introduce himself and promptly asked me out to dinner."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Myka asked.

"Why would I?" Regina asked back. "It was one dinner date and it turned out to be even more boring than a board meeting, so …"

Myka winced. "Sorry, it was a bad date."

"I survived," Regina snorted. "Emma, truth or dare?"

"Me again?" Emma groaned.

"Well, you are the most interesting," H.G. said with a grin.

"I doubt that."

"To us you are," Myka grinned.

"Like a new species under a microscope." Emma snorted. "Truth."

"Why did you pretend to need my help with the cardiac tamponade on your first day?"

"I didn't really pretend." Emma swallowed as Regina gave her a pointed look. "I'm not sure why, really," she admitted. "I just knew you were testing me, and I'd only done it once before with one of the best cardiac surgeons I know standing right next to me, so … I knew what I was doing theoretically, but I also didn't want to fuck it up." _And I wanted to impress you. _Her eyes met Regina's. "How did you know I'd done it before?"

Regina smiled. "People tend to be a lot more hesitant the first time they ram a needle into a man's chest. You were calm, and you knew where to go and what to do. Believe me, if you hadn't looked confident, I never would have let you actually do it."

Emma smiled almost shyly. "Thanks for giving me the chance." She turned to H.G., barely waiting for her nod. "Have you ever had sex with Regina?"

This time everyone around the table held their breath; Myka even gasped a little. Emma had no idea why she'd asked, she wasn't even sure she wanted an answer, not with the way this could make things even more awkward. She felt eyes on her and looked up, meeting Regina's dark gaze from across the table, and not for the first time Emma wished she could read the other woman better.

"Are you sure you want an answer to that?" H.G. asked mildly.

_No, I'm not,_ Emma screamed internally, and it translated into a shake of her head.

"Well, at least you're honest," H.G. chuckled. "The answer is …" She paused for effect, causing Regina to roll her eyes. "No … though not for lack of trying. Alas, Regina never looked at me that way."

Regina swatted away the puppy-dog look H.G. gave her. "You were my best friend, Helena," she murmured. "That's not something you throw away for a quick romp in the hay, no matter how much fun it might have been." There were other reason that both Regina and Helena knew about but they had no place here at this table.

"Very true," H.G. agreed, locking eyes with her wife across the table, who mouthed _I love you_ and smiled. Then she turned back to her oldest friend with a devilish glint in her eyes. "Would you date Emma if she weren't a doctor on your team?"

Emma almost dropped the shot glass she had been toying with as her eyes flew up to look at Regina. She saw Regina glare at H.G. and letting the silence stretch on, the tension around the table rising steadily. _Please don't pick a dare,_ Emma begged internally, followed by an even more fervent _Please say yes_.


	6. Episode 3, Part 3 - Can't Blame It On

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the recognizable characters.**

**A/N: Here it is, the final part of the episode that wouldn't end: more talking, more drinking, more ... fun. Enjoy. :)**

**A/N 2: Thank you for your comments, reviews, faves and follows. Much appreciated. :)**

**A/N 3: I have no idea when the next episode will get posted since I'm pretty busy right now and I also need to focus on _Hide and Seek_ a little bit, so please be patient. :)**

* * *

**Episode 3 — Part 3: Can't Blame It On The Alcohol**

"_Would you date Emma if she weren't a doctor on your team?" _

Regina studied the glass in her hand, thinking about going for a dare and taking a shot, just to avoid the question she had been thinking about all day. But then her eyes found Emma's almost of their own accord, found herself watched closely with an open and interested look. She took a deep breath and looked straight into Emma's eyes before replying with a soft, "Yes."

Emma could feel her heart rate jump, but she didn't say anything, just kept her eyes on Regina who couldn't seem to tear her eyes away either. They stared at each other in silence until H.G. cleared her throat, finally pulling Regina out of the moment.

Regina turned to Myka knowing she always went with truth anyway. "Why did you trick us both into coming here?" she asked, voice a touch lower than before.

Myka grinned. "We didn't actually _trick_ Emma …"

"But you did lie by omission," Emma pointed out.

Myka shrugged it off, not really regretting the setup. "We think you'd be good for each other, if you only gave Emma a chance," she explained with a pointed look at Regina.

"Did you ever wonder if forcing me to do this might be more than a little counterproductive?" Regina huffed. "That I might just decide to keep my distance because of this? I _have_ been known to be a little stubborn … or so I've been told a lot recentl ... and you," she looked at H.G., "you know _exactly_ how much I hate being manipulated."

"I _have_ actually … every second since we asked Emma to come down with us," Myka whispered. "But are you really going to punish yourself for my … deception?"

"_Our_ deception," H.G. insisted.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Who says it would be a punishment?" Myka simply stared at Regina and raised an eyebrow, causing her to relent with a soft exhale. "I haven't made up my mind yet," she murmured almost defiantly. "Your turn." If the last bit came out a little sharper than usual, everybody ignored it.

Myka decided to up the ante a little bit. "Emma …"

"Truth."

Myka grinned evilly. "On a scale from one to ten, how good was the sex with Regina?"

Emma coughed as her breath stalled for a second. With a blush blooming on her cheeks, she tried to find Regina's eyes but the other woman was staring at Myka with an unreadable expression on her face while Myka grinned back devilishly.

Emma swallowed and shook her head. There was no way she was risking the progress she had made with Regina to satisfy Myka's curiosity. Not if she ever wanted a chance at experiencing it again. "Yeah, I'm not going to answer that one."

H.G. smiled knowingly as she pulled over the bottle and filled Emma's glass. "That'll cost you a shot and a dare." She watched as Emma took the glass, eyes on Myka and waiting for what she would have to do.

Myka pretended to think, although she had known what she was going to say the second Emma had, quite expectedly, chosen to take a dare instead, thereby walking straight into Myka's trap. "I dare you to kiss Regina … and to make it worth our while. Kiss her like-"

She was interrupted when Emma coughed loudly and almost spit the tequila all over the table when it went down the wrong pipe. "Seriously?" she wheezed.

Regina's glare intensified. "I'd appreciate it if you tried not to kill off a member of our team with this stupid game."

Myka shrugged not impressed by Regina's death glare nor Emma's coughing fit."That's not getting you out of the dare, Emma," she simply said. "So, go ahead whenever you're done coughing out that mighty fine tequila ... and remember: make it good or I'll make you do it again until I'm satisfied."

Emma swallowed, then got up slowly to walk around the table to Regina's side, feeling as if she was clawing her way through molasses in slow motion. Her legs felt like lead and her head was still a little woozy, both from the shot and from the coughing fit it had caused. Feeling Regina's eyes on her, dark, calm, and following her progress like a hawk, just added to the tension. Finally, Emma slowly pulled Regina out of her chair and into her arms, hesitation written all over her features. She took her time to get them used to being in this position again, giving herself the opportunity to try and read Regina's thoughts, albeit unsuccessfully.

Regina's mind was a jumbled mess of emotions, and the only relief she felt was that Emma seemed even more nervous about this than she was. She had no idea what Emma was going to do, how far she was willing to take this dare. She schooled her features into a mostly professional mask, although it cost far too much effort for her liking because there was a big part of her that was aching to feel those lips on hers again.

They kept staring at each other, tension mounting. When Emma couldn't take it anymore, she twisted her hand in Regina's hair and closed the small distance between them.

Emma had planned for the kiss to be gentle, soft, an easy meeting of lips, assuming that Regina would be even more uncomfortable with the PDA than she herself was, but as soon as their mouths collided, those thoughts flew out the window. Emma's free arm moved around Regina's waist, pulling her as close as possible as she tilted her head to get closer, to move her mouth over Regina's more freely. Her tongue flicked out once, twice, and then suddenly slipped right into Regina's mouth when her lips parted for a sharp breath.

That gasp broke the last of Emma's resolve and she deepened the kiss with a small groan coming from deep within her throat. At least she thought it was her own, but with the way Regina's hand curled into her back and the sudden deft strokes of her tongue against Emma's, she wasn't really all that sure.

Regina's heart was racing in her chest, and her nostrils flared as she tried to get oxygen into her system. She had almost managed to make herself forget what a fantastic kisser Emma was, but now that her body got a reminder she was loathe to end this kiss for something as mundane as taking a breath. One hand wrapped itself into the back of the thin tank top Emma wore as the other sneaked towards Emma's side, her thumb not so accidentally brushing against a breast.

Emma's breath hitched when she felt the featherlight touch. In reaction, her own hand wandered down Regina's back until it sat dangerously close to her ass, while her tongue traced the inside of Regina's mouth. The rhythm of their kiss echoed through Emma's entire body, causing a throb between her legs, making her head spin and threatening to bring feelings to the forefront of her mind that she wasn't sure she was ready to face.

H.G. tried to tear her eyes away from the sight of her best friend getting utterly lost in Emma's kiss but it proved to be much harder than she thought it should be. It was an experience to see Regina like that, all feeling, no thoughts getting in the way, her higher brain function switched off. "Was that what you had in mind?" she whispered, leaning as close to Myka as she could with the table between them.

Myka swallowed hard. "I don't know what I expected, to be honest," she admitted. "But this ..." This was so much more. "Do you think we should say something or just go find somewhere else to be?"

"Are you regretting the dare, darling?"

Myka's eyes twinkled as they met her wife's. "Not really," she whispered. "Yeah, it's strange to see them like this, but it also feels as if there's a chance this might actually work out for them."

"Pour us drinks, my love," H.G. suggested. "I think we might all need one after this." Then she cleared her throat as loudly as she could and, when that didn't help, she slammed an empty shot glass on the table.

Hard.

Regina and Emma jumped apart as if the other was on fire, looking around for the source of the interruption. H.G. grinned up at them and help up her now filled glass. "So sorry about that," she declared, sounding anything but. "A drink, ladies?"

Regina blushed to the roots of her hair, feeling a little dazed from the kiss and its sudden ending. Her eyes went to Emma who wasn't faring much better, stumbling over her own feet on her way back to her seat.

Myka grinned at Regina, feeling very proud of herself and not a little smug. Regina saw the grin and immediately grew defensive, knowing she had allowed herself to reveal way too much in the last few minutes. "Stop smirking, Myka," she demanded hoarsely. "It's not a particularly good look on you."

"I think it's an _exceptionally_ good look on her," H.G. quietly rebuked her with a smile for her wife. "Let's all drink to that beautiful ... display just now. I'd say that Myka's dare was answered in full. Well done, Emma."

Emma nodded, but didn't say anything, feeling raw and exposed after the kiss which had gone on for far longer than she had planned, and definitely had involved a lot more feelings. Her nerves felt like livewires, and she knew even looking at Regina would cause her center to throb with need right now. So she focused on the shot glass that appeared in front of her and downed it quickly to calm herself, not bothering with either salt or lime. From the corners of her eyes she could see Myka and H.G. do the same but her eyes resolutely stayed away from the woman sitting across from her.

"It's your turn, Swan ...," Emma heard H.G. say, and her voice sounded oddly gentle to her ears. _We must have really made an impression_, she thought. The kiss had answered some questions for her but it also brought back some burning questions from earlier in the day, one of which she could maybe get an answer to now.

To do that, however, she'd have to look at Regina.

When Emma raised her eyes she almost sighed at the way Regina was sitting at the table looking poised and calm. But Emma thought she could still see the remainder of a blush on her face which made her wonder if Regina was really as calm as she pretended to be.

_Well, time to bite the bullet. _"Truth or dare, Regina?" Emma wished her voice didn't sound like she'd just been hit over the head, all wobbly and breathless. _I should have another drink._

"Truth," Regina replied huskily.

_Oh God, her voice is so fucking deadly like this, _Emma thought resignedly. _I'm never _not_ going to find her insanely attractive. _She cleared her throat. "Who is Henry? The guy who called earlier?" she asked, trying hard to keep the jealousy out of her voice. _The guy who made your whole face light up?_

Regina barely managed to keep her expression neutral even when she heard the thinly veiled jealousy in Emma's voice. Her evil streak, however, immediately reared its head at this opportunity to play with the other woman. "Henry is someone I love very much," she said with the kind of smile his name always brought forth. "He's the … most important man in my life."

Emma swallowed around the lump in her throat when she felt her hopes crumble before her eyes. She wondered if she had been played by the three women at the table, but Myka and H.G. were chuckling, and Myka uttered Regina's name in a low warning.

"What?" Regina asked, pretending to be offended. "You know it's true. I love him more than I could ever express in words."

Jealousy was roiling like the sea inside Emma, although she was getting the feeling she was missing something important when H.G. and Myka just kept shaking their heads.

H.G. grabbed the tequila and filled Regina's glass. "But it's not the whole truth, so I'm quite afraid you're going to have to take a shot."

Regina shrugged good-naturedly, having expected that. With a wicked gleam in her eyes, she made a show of licking her hand, downing the shot, and sucking the lime, staring into Emma's eyes the whole time.

Emma felt the temperature in the room rising, and she was suddenly too hot even in her tank top and shorts, but she also was more confused than ever. It was clear to her that H.G. and Myka knew about Henry, and if push came to shove, she could always ask one of them next, but she was also beginning to think that things were not the way they seemed. She cleared her throat pointedly. "If that wasn't the truth shouldn't she have to do a dare too?" she asked, although she wasn't at all certain what she wanted Regina to do should she get the opportunity to dare her.

Regina glared at them. "I did not lie," she pointed out. "And I already took the shot."

H.G. looked at Myka, then shrugged. "She's right. Sorry, you also had to just take a shot earlier when you copped out of your question about why you left Seattle."

Emma grumbled but she was feeling almost relieved. "Then I guess it's Regina's turn."

Regina turned to Emma immediately. "How did you get Ruby to deliver coffee to the hospital?"

Myka and H.G. leaned forward a little, also very interested in that answer, even tough they were beginning to feel a little left out of the game at this point.

Emma was certain there was a question _behind_ the question, and she wondered if she could turn the table on Regina. She _could_ keep the other woman guessing … but was it worth it? Once again Emma tried to gauge Regina's intent and mood, getting lost in her eyes for so long that she didn't even realize she wasn't answering the question. All she noticed was that Regina's face seemed to be clouding over more and more until she looked away and fiddled with her shot glass. That was when Emma decided to just go with the truth. "I asked her because I thought we could all use some great coffee after that horrible day, but her response was pretty much what I expected …"

"She said no?" Myka asked. Emma nodded.

"Then how did you get her to relent?" H.G. wanted to know.

"I told her the real reason I wanted the coffee," Emma explained. Her eyes went back to Regina who was now looking at her with a puzzled expression on her face. "I told her I wanted to impress this beautiful woman who I wanted to date and who loved her coffee."

"And that's what got her to agree?" Regina rasped.

Emma nodded. "She said she'd seen the way I looked at you at our breakfast and she decided to take pity on me."

Regina's eyes didn't leave her face. "But you were flirting with her the whole time …"

"She was flirting with me and I bantered back … it's what people _do_, Regina!" Emma insisted. "Ruby told me you flirt with her like crazy when you're not pissed at me for showing up unexpected …"

"And … you did this for me?"

"Don't you get it?" Emma asked softly, her eyes soft and vulnerable. "I'd love to do things like that for you all the time."

There was a long silence as Regina and Emma just stared at each other, trying to decipher looks and intentions. After a few moments, H.G. and Myka shared a look, then quietly got up and sneaked away as they realized that their game had come to a sudden end. This was a conversation Emma and Regina needed to have, and that H.G. didn't need to be privy to.

Emma and Regina didn't even notice.

"Okay, I get that you're interested in me but … are you interested in Ruby as well?" Regina asked suddenly.

Emma shook her head, barely managing not to roll her eyes. "I am _not_ interested in Ruby," she replied, sounding just slightly exasperated. "I wouldn't even be interested in her if you kept denying that there's something between us that's worth exploring."

Regina studied her face to see if she was lying.

"Here's the thing, Regina," Emma continued. "The only one I'm interested in is you, and it's been that way since that first night at the bar."

Regina was still for a long time, then let out a breath she hadn't even be aware of holding in, and her heart felt lighter all of a sudden. "Okay," she whispered.

Emma furrowed her brow. "Okay? That's all you have to say?" She sighed when Regina remained quiet. Then she remembered that there was still something that _she_ really wanted an answer to. "All right … erm," she started hesitantly. "So, you really have no reason to be jealous about Ruby but … erm … is that Henry dude the reason you won't even give me a chance?"

Regina couldn't help herself; she burst out laughing.

"What?" Emma hissed. "Just tell me, dammit."

Regina sobered at the distress she could hear in Emma's voice, realizing this had finally gone a little too far. She quickly moved to the seat closer to Emma, vaguely noticing that they were alone now. _Huh, okay._ "Emma," she said gently, "he's _one_ of the reasons, yes, bu—"

"Are you in love with him? Is _that_ it?" Emma interrupted heatedly. "Why did you even sleep with me then? What was—?"

Regina put her fingers on Emma's lips to stop her. "Listen to me," she pleaded. "I'm sorry about all of this, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you straight away but … Henry is not some _guy_, and I'm _not_ in love with him. But he _is_ very important to me and I love him very much."

"I don't understand," Emma whined.

Regina smiled. "Henry is my son."

Emma looked taken aback. "You have a son?"

Regina mentally kicked herself. _You were so worried about keeping her at a distance when all you had to mention was your kid._ It hurt a lot more than she thought it would, she realized. _Now that she had almost decided not to ignore her feelings for Emma …_ "Is that a problem?" she gave voice to her doubts, needing clarity.

Emma tilted her head. "Why would it be?" She saw the relief in Regina's eyes, and hope bloomed in her chest. Maybe this weekend would prove to be the best thing that ever happened to her. "I was just wondering … that night … you took me home and he … Was Henry with his father?"

Regina smiled at the way Emma made sure to use his name, but also at the hidden question. "Henry … doesn't have a father," she reassured the younger woman. "He lives with his grandfather most of the time. This weekend he's at a photography camp."

"Oh," Emma breathed. H.G. comments from before dinner came back, and now she understood why they had hit Regina so hard. "That must be hard for you. How old is he?"

"He's ten." Regina fought with herself for a few moments, her hands itching to show Emma his picture, to show her little boy off to this woman who was becoming so important to her. _Let's not overwhelm her … she may not have a problem with his existence but that doesn't mean … _

"Do you … okay, don't take this the wrong way," Emma interrupted Regina's thoughts. "But … do you have a picture of him?"

Regina looked at her in wonder, pleasantly surprised. "You want to see a photo of him?" She got up to get her phone, looking around the empty room. "Looks like we lost H.G. and Myka for good."

Emma smiled. "I really like them but I can't say that I mind being alone with you."

"Emma," Regina said warningly, voice low as she came back to the table with her phone.

"What? That can't be news to you!"

Regina sighed and showed Emma her phone background of a grinning Henry.

"Cute guy," Emma declared with a grin, handing back the phone. "Thank you."

Regina nodded, touched that Emma wasn't running for the hills because of Henry. "You're welcome." Her voice was low and even raspier than usual and she stared at Emma who couldn't help but keep looking back.

"You gotta stop looking at me like that," Emma murmured after a long time.

"Like what?" Regina's eyes didn't waver.

"Like that," she pointed out, trying to swallow down her growing desire. "Not if you don't want me to …"

"To … what?" Regina's eyes flickered from Emma's eyes to her lips and back.

"To do this." Emma kissed her, softly at first, but like with the kiss before it only took a flicker of her tongue against Regina's bottom lip to deepen the kiss. She pulled Regina out of her chair and into her own lap to get her closer, hands immediately roaming all over her back and into her short hair. They both start panting into each other's mouths, arousal slamming into them like a physical force.

"You really need to get a room."

Regina reared back from Emma at the sound of Myka's voice but the younger woman refused to let her go. Instead, Emma grinned, refusing to be embarrassed. "Like _you_ did this afternoon?"

"Exactly," Myka agreed with a smile.

"Why don't you go and take Emma to the boat?" H.G. suddenly suggested.

Regina tilted her head as if thinking about it. "I did promise you two I'd sleep on the boat, didn't I?" she finally murmured.

H.G. and Myka nodded eagerly, holding hands, making it obvious that they really wouldn't mind having the cabin to themselves now.

With a grin, Regina turned back to Emma. "Would you like to spend the night on the water, Doctor Swan?"

Emma swallowed at the invitation and the implication behind it but her smile was almost blinding as she replied. "Absolutely."

—*—*—

The night was warm and humid, and down here, far away from the sounds of the city, everything felt slightly unreal. She wrapped her arms around herself when a breeze from the ocean hit her as they made their way towards the _Rocinante_. The yacht was bobbing softly on the waves, lit only by a small positioning light, beckoning them to come aboard.

Now that she had cooled off a little and her brain had started working again, she was getting nervous, although she wondered why that was. It wasn't like she hadn't slept with Regina before, so she knew it was going to be good.

Scratch that. It was going to be _spectacular_.

Suddenly Emma was extremely glad that she hadn't had too much to drink. She felt a slight buzz, a low-key high that ran through her system, making her a little giddy, although that could just as easily be attributed to the thought of being able to touch Regina again.

God, how she wanted to touch that woman again.

The question that plagued her wasn't the thought of spending the night with the woman she was falling for rather rapidly. No, it was the question of what was going to happen _afterwards_, when they were back in the real world. The world of hospitals and traumas and other people, people who might be judgmental and who probably wouldn't condone their relationship. _And what about Regina's son? _Because _God_, Regina had been right: Emma _was_ complicating her life immensely.

A step in front of her, Regina was lost in her own thoughts and doubts. _Was this a mistake of epic proportions?_ Was she just repeating something she shouldn't even have done the first time around? _You need to stop running from love, _her mind chided her, taking on Rosa's voice. _You need to enjoy the moment._

But what happened _after_ the moment? What happened when they went back to work, when they were faced with the task of working together in close proximity? When the hospital gossips caught wind of their … affair?

Regina hadn't even realized that she had stopped walking until Emma bumped into her from behind, almost toppling them both off the narrow pier. "Sorry," Emma mumbled quietly. "I was just thinking …"

"Hmm," Regina replied, keeping a steadying hand on Emma's arm. "So was I," she admitted, but just the knowledge that Emma seemed to be having some doubts as well calmed her down and helped to put things in perspective. She _was_ going to enjoy herself this weekend, and would deal with the fallout later. _Unless, of course, …_ "Second thoughts?" she asked seriously.

Emma met Regina's eyes in the pale moonlight as she tilted her head from left to right reluctantly. "I don't know … just thinking, I guess." She was having some doubts but not nearly enough to want to end this before it even started. "You?"

"Second, third, and probably even fourth," Regina replied sardonically.

"Do you want to … I could go sleep in one of the hammocks," Emma offered with a grimace that didn't go unnoticed.

Regina gave her a smile. Knowing she had an out made her realize that she really didn't want one. What she wanted was the woman in front of her that was trying so hard to pretend that she would be okay if she had to sleep outside.

"That's really not necessary, Emma." Regina grinned, feeling almost free all of a sudden. "Did I say anything about stopping this?" She fisted one hand into the front of Emma's tank top and pulled her into a fierce kiss. "I want you, Emma," she rasped against the younger woman's mouth once they parted.

Emma almost swooned. _Jesus, that woman could kiss. _"I want you too," she panted. "I've wanted you from the moment I first saw you."

"Well, you had me once …"

"Yeah, more like three times," Emma grinned and leaned in for another kiss, which ended far too quickly when Regina let out a sound that could only be described as a dirty chuckle. "God, you're driving me crazy," Emma groaned, pushing Regina away a little so they could maybe manage to get on board before they ended up doing something on the pier that it really wasn't meant for.

Regina stumbled a little but managed to hold onto Emma for support. She laughed out loud and Emma swore that she would do her damn best to elicit that beautiful sound as often as she could. But it also made her wonder. "How many drinks did you have tonight?" she asked while trying to figure out how much she herself had had.

Regina grinned. "Just enough to stop thinking and start acting on what I want," she replied earnestly. "What about you?"

"About the same," Emma said, feeling relief and a new wave of desire flood her system.

"What are we waiting for then?"

—*—*—

"Do you think they're going to be okay?" Myka asked, her head pressed into the crook of Helen's neck.

The hand running up and down her spine stopped, then resumed its tracing. "I hope so," H.G. replied softly, her breath whispering through Myka's curls. "I just …"

"Just what?" Myka asked when her wife didn't continue. "Do you think they were so caught up in the moment that they're going to regret it tomorrow?"

H.G. sighed. "Knowing Regina? That's a definite possibility." She pulled Myka closer into her arms. "I hope it's them making the decisions tonight and not the tequila."

"Neither of them drank that much, Helena," Myka reminded her. "They looked pretty clear-headed when they left."

"Just enough to lower their inhibitions and take care of the doubts?"

"Just about, yes." Myka rolled herself on top of H.G. and rolled her hips against her center. "Now, how about we stop talking about _their_ inhibitions and start losing _ours_?"

H.G. groaned in pleasure and pulled Myka more firmly against her body.

—*—*—

Regina led Emma onto the boat, helping her over the side in the dark. The moon was out in full force, bathing everything in a light blue glow, but for someone who was unfamiliar with small boats it was still a challenge.

"Thank you," Emma breathed once both her feet were standing firmly on the deck, her hand still in Regina's. It simply felt too good to let go. "I have to admit that I've never been on a boat before."

"Never?" Regina was surprised. "I can't even imagine that."

"Well, I've been on ferries but that's not really the same thing, is it?" Emma pulled Regina closer. "This is much more ... intimate."

Regina chuckled. "That it is." She gently removed her hand from Emma's to open the door that led down to the cabin. "It also means you need to be more careful on deck because when you fall, you'll probably go overboard."

"Noted, Captain." Emma saluted sloppily as she pressed herself closer to Regina at the small doorway.

Emma's breath ghosted over Regina's ear, making her shiver and the tiny hairs on her arms stand up at attention. She fought the urge to turn around and ravish Emma where they stood, taking her against the side of the cabin, space and comfort be damned. Two deep breaths helped a tiny bit, but not enough to calm Regina's racing heart or raging desire. "If you keep doing that," she rasped, "I might yank you down those stairs faster than you might like."

Regina's husky voice traced a path from Emma's ear down to her center, vibrating, turning on Emma even more than she already was. "You have no idea what you're doing to me," she muttered, but she took a minuscule step back, figuring the sooner they got inside, the sooner she could be all over Regina.

Regina swallowed hard at the words. _And I'm sure you have no idea what you're doing to me ... but I guess that's exactly what I wanted this past week. _She quickly moved down the narrow steps and held her hand out to help Emma down as well. She waited until Emma was safely inside to close the door behind her. The she walked over to a side table to turn on a small lamp, and with the warm light suddenly flooding the room, Regina was hit by nerves. She buried both hands in the pockets of her shorts, torn between the sudden urge to make some inane comment - _but you hate small talk, Regina, and why the hell are your feelings all over the place today_ - and just crossing the distance between them in one giant step to be in those arms again.

Emma barely had eyes for the exquisite furnishings of the room. She noticed a cream-colored leather sofa, a small open kitchen, and low shelves along the sides as she turned around once, but the only thing she really _saw_ was Regina. Regina who was standing in the middle of the room looking almost ... _shy_, now that they were standing in the warm light of the lamp.

"Come here," Emma whispered gently, holding out her hand and breathing out in relief when Regina took it and allowed herself to be pulled close. Emma held Regina's hand, raising it between their bodies, slowly pulling Regina in until their joined hands rested between their breasts, the only thing separating them. With her free hand, Emma tenderly brushed a lock of dark hair out of Regina's face, then trailed a fingertip across her eyebrows, down her nose, and finally across the beautiful scar on her upper lip. She smiled softly as her eyes and finger mapped Regina's face in a way she hadn't had the opportunity before.

After a few moments, Regina's eyes met hers, open and dark, and Emma's finger stilled. They gazed at each other, not moving, breath becoming more shallow by the second until Regina felt the need to break the silence. "What are you doing?" she murmured hoarsely.

"Looking at you," Emma whispered. "You're gorgeous ... so damn beautiful. I don't even remember if I told you that ... the first time we ..."

Regina smiled. "You did ... I think." She also reached out with her free hand and pushed a strand of hair behind Emma's ear. "And it's you who's beautiful." Then she cupped Emma's face and slowly leaned in to bring their lips together in a soft, almost chaste kiss. "I tried so hard to stay away from you … because we really shouldn't be doing this … but …

"But?" Emma breathed against Regina's cheek.

"But right now I just want you," Regina admitted breathlessly, rubbing her cheek against Emma's as she leaned closer. "Do you want me, Emma?" she asked, her lips touching the shell of Emma's ear, tongue flicking the lobe once before nipping with a touch of teeth.

Emma's reply was a low growl, almost animalistic, as she wrapped her hands into Regina's hair and pulled her mouth back to her own, crashing their lips together in a heated kiss. The growl got deeper as the kiss got more intense, her tongue slipping effortlessly between Regina's lips to explore her mouth.

Emma wanted to take her time to explore, she really did, but the alcohol in her system, the subtropical night, everything the night's game had revealed, and the sheer, pure desire she had for the woman in her arms conspired against her. All she could think about, all she wanted was to feel Regina's skin against her own, to touch her body and be touched in return, to refresh her memories and learn new things, find out everything there was to know about giving Regina pleasure.

"I missed you," Emma murmured, trailing her lips against Regina's jaw, down her neck, scraping her teeth gently against the tendons that connected neck and shoulder. "I know it's crazy … but I really missed you, missed this …" She felt hands tangle in her hair, pushing and pulling, curling into her scalp. "You have no idea how much I want you right now."

Regina let out a small dirty chuckle, a sound that hit Emma right in her center and made the desire curl and twist in her lower abdomen. "Oh, I do have an idea."

Emma grinned against Regina's throat. "Is there a bedroom on this boat?"

"Two actually," Regina breathed.

"I'm sure we can make do with one," Emma replied, lips vibrating against Regina's skin. "For now."

Together they moved through the main cabin and a small hallway with Regina pointing to the right _— guest cabin —_ and the left _— bathroom —_ between kisses, and Emma paying no attention whatsoever to anything that wasn't Regina's skin. Her fingers curled into the white shirt Regina was wearing, tearing at it impatiently. By the time they were standing in the yacht's small master bedroom, the shirt was half open and hanging off one shoulder, revealing the bikini top Regina was wearing underneath.

Regina grabbed the hem of Emma's tank top and pulled it off in one smooth move, tossing it in the corner behind Emma. Then she stood absolutely still and simply stared. The light from the hallway filtered into the bedroom, illuminating Emma's runner's body, all long, lean, toned muscles. Regina knew she hadn't paid enough attention their first time together, and she didn't want to make the same mistake twice. She reached out with one hand and traced Emma's abdominal muscles, delighting in the way they clenched at the touch and the sound Emma made, needy and raw.

"You're gorgeous," Regina breathed, barely resisting the urge to just tear the rest of the clothes off of Emma's body.

Emma didn't have those qualms. She opened the final two buttons of Regina's shirt as fast as her trembling fingers allowed, then simply pushed it off her shoulders. When her hands reached for the straps of her sports bikini top, Regina jumped into action again, and within seconds all restraint was lost as they tore their clothes off, overcome by the need to feel their naked bodies pressed together as their mouths sought out the other's and all that remained between them were their bikini bottoms.

Emma moved them backwards until Regina's knees hit the bed and she sat down heavily, toppling several pillows off the bed with the sudden move. Regina didn't notice — her whole focus was on the woman who was straddling her lap, still kissing her. She broke away to lean forward and catch one of Emma's nipples in her mouth, sucking, nipping, licking greedily, and enjoying the moans Emma couldn't hold back.

"I want you so much," Regina said again between kisses and nips.

Emma pulled Regina's head up to catch her mouth in another hungry, deep, open-mouthed kiss. "I want you too," she panted against Regina's mouth between kisses. "Please don't tease me."

"Not too … much … at least." Regina kissed a path down Emma's neck, alternating licks and sucks, trying only half-heartedly not to leave a mark. She relished in every moan Emma made, every sigh just made her hotter, wetter, made her crave more of … everything.

Emma got up from Regina's lap and chuckled when she heard Regina's disappointed groan, which turned into an appreciative moan when Emma ran her hands down her own body in a little show. "You just said … no teasing," Regina complained half-heartedly.

Emma chuckled as she gently pushed Regina towards the center of the bed and slowly crawled on top of her, kissing her way up first one leg, then the other, her hands following in her mouth's wake until they encountered the bikini bottoms that looked more like black boyshorts. She hooked one finger under the edge and looked up to meet Regina's dark eyes. "May I?" She tugged lightly.

"Y-yes," Regina moaned, already incredibly aroused, and only getting more so just seeing the look of hunger on Emma's face. She could feel how wet she was becoming, her body craving Emma's touch. Her whole body tensed, eyes closed tightly, as Emma removed that last bit of clothing, waited on bated breath for the touch, any kind of touch where she needed and wanted to be touched, but it didn't come.

A second later her brain short-circuited at the first swipe of Emma's tongue along her wet folds and she almost came right then, keyed up as she was from their kisses and the way she had denied herself this since their first night together. She pushed her hands into Emma's hair to direct her to where she so desperately wanted her.

Emma went along willingly. She could smell Regina's arousal and gasped at the sharp twitch in her lower abdomen in response. Her own arousal was slowly threatening to overwhelm her and it took all her control not to just ravage Regina hard and fast. She wanted to take her time, relishing the feeling of being this aroused, and this close once more to the woman that hadn't left her mind since the first she had lain eyes on her. She pressed her lower body into the bed, trying to relieve some of the tension between her legs but that only made it worse.

Emma took a deep breath, trying to gain some control, but the scent of Regina's arousal hit her full force, and she felt her own spike dangerously. She forced herself to focus on Regina, wanting to make it good, wanting to make an impression, wanting to make it so that Regina would want to do it again and again. Emma already knew that she would want to repeat this as often as possible, for as long as possible. When her lips finally covered Regina's clit, the other woman let out a drawn-out groan that had Emma's center clench in sympathy.

Regina was already very close to coming but she suddenly wanted to feel more of Emma, wanted to feel her against her whole body. She pulled Emma's head away from her center, grinning at the tortured groan that came from Emma's mouth."What … did I do something … wrong?".

Regina shook her head. "I need you … up here," she explained breathlessly. One of her hands found purchase on Emma's biceps and she pulled her up until she could kiss those lips again. "Want to feel you close when I come."

Emma groaned at the words as she sank into the kiss, her body settling between Regina's legs and almost melting against the woman straining up against her. Her fingers trailed down to Regina's core as her lips moved down to a breast, and she sank one of them into Regina, just as her lips started tugging and licking. Feeling Regina buck up against her, one leg raised around her hip, only made Emma's want that much greater, and suddenly she couldn't wait any longer.

"I want to feel you inside of me now, Regina," Emma rasped, using her thigh to push her fingers harder into Regina. "I need to feel you hard and deep."

Regina simply groaned, her brain not registering much beyond _deep, hard_ and _inside_. She pushed her hand between their bodies and inside the bikini bottom Emma was still wearing, just as she felt Emma add a second finger inside her. She growled when she felt how ready Emma was for her, knowing that Emma could feel her hot, slick wetness at the same time. "Gods, Emma," she ground out, her voice husky, "you're _so_ wet."

"For you," Emma groaned, straining to feel more of Regina. "Please, Regina … I need you."

Regina pushed two fingers deeply into Emma, as deep as she could given their position, mirroring Emma's speed and force. "God, Emma … please … harder."

Emma picked up the speed and force of her fingers, although she was beginning to have trouble focusing on anything except for the feeling Regina's fingers created in her. "More, Regina," she groaned, "more …"

Regina pulled out for a fraction of a second, then pushed three fingers into Emma as hard, deep, and fast as she could, knowing in a second Emma would do the same to her. She bit her lip to keep herself from screaming when she felt herself stretched deliciously a moment later. "So good," she mumbled, "so good, Emma."

"You feel so good," Emma whispered as she began to shake, both from exertion and arousal.

"So … close," Regina growled, her voice a husky purr, much lower than usual. When Emma's thumb pressed down on her clit, she bit her lip to stop herself from screaming. "I'm … gonna … there … yes … so close … right there …"

"Can't … much longer …" Emma was trying to focus on Regina but finding herself unable to when her own pleasure reached fever pitch. When Regina circled her clit with her thumb and then pressed down rhythmically, she came, mouth wide open in a scream she tried her damn best to bite back.

Seeing Emma come undone pushed Regina over the edge as well. The climax hit her with such force that she had to press her mouth against Emma's shoulder in an attempt to keep at least somewhat quiet.

They both collapsed, bodies relaxing bonelessly after a few moments. Regina could feel the aftershocks of Emma's orgasm through her fingers and suspected Emma could feel hers as well. She smiled and moved her head from Emma's shoulder so she could kiss a trail up her throat towards her mouth.

They kissed slowly, languidly for a long time, enjoying their moment together, before reality could barge in. Emma gently pulled her fingers out which left Regina sighing but following suit. Regina brought her fingers to her mouth and licked them clean. "I like your taste," she murmured, her breath still uneven. "I'm sorry I didn't get to do it this time."

Emma leaned in and kissed Regina, greedily chasing after her taste from Regina's mouth. "Hmm," she hummed when they parted. "Next time then."

Their bodies stilled as their eyes met, and they separated by unspoken consent, Emma rolling away and settling in on her back next to Regina. They lay there, both trying to slow down their racing hearts, both trying not to let the outside world intrude just yet.

It was too late for that.

As soon as Emma felt she was able to speak coherently, she pressed herself up on an elbow and leaned over Regina, unable to keep the relaxed, almost dopey smile from stretching her cheeks. "Will you go on a date with me now?"

Regina didn't know if it was the blissful, post-orgasmic haze she was in or the beautiful, hopeful grin on Emma's face that made her do it, but before she could stop herself, she felt herself smiling back and replying with a whispered, "I'll consider it."


End file.
